I Can See You, I Promise
by Uzumakiflame
Summary: "You're here." A kiss on the neck followed by a soft gasp. "I can see you, hear you, smell you, taste you, touch you. I'm willing to bet my life that you're here and you're breathing." Sasuke just wants to know why this detective thinks seeing dead people is normal. Naruto just wants to know him better. Narusasu AU Yaoi. Mystery/crime/horror/humor/romance.
1. Odd People

**I Can See You, I Promise**

Hello, my friend's. You guessed it. Another NARUSASU AU. This fic may just be weird and super awesome. All thanks to Bubblymoon, I am attempting to write a fic with horror and romance. He/she has requested this fic and this is all for bubblymoon. I hope you all like it. Any haters please leave. Well, on with the story tout de suite.

Naruto and Kiba (for purpose of plot): 23

Sasuke and others: 18

Horizontal line= flashback/flashback end

 **NSNS** = scene change

 _thoughts_

 **Odd People**

Uchiha Sasuke was, for lack of a better word, odd. He saw things; thing that normal people never saw, things that were never there.

He knew that this made him different; hard to speak to; hard to understand.

Hence the reason, he walked alone, to a nearby bar; hood up and eyes closed so that the real people couldn't see him and he couldn't see the fake people.

He wasn't allowed to be in this bar, for he was underage. But, no one seemed to care. No one ever did.

Walking quietly into the bar and sitting down, he sat and stared at the television. There was a murder and there always was.

"What we are trying to understand is why random people are being targeted by one person. Is this a serial killer. In the last week four people have died by the same suspect."

Sasuke drowned it all out. He hated the murders of Konoha.

As he thought, a man sat next to him and smiled kindly at him (or his hood), turning to the front. "Bartender, I'll have a whiskey."

Said bartender just kept cleaning his glass cups with a cloth. The man sighed and rubbed his temples. "Hello. Did ya' hear me? Whiskey! ASAP." The bartender again said nothing or did nothing; in fact he gave no acknowledgement that the man was even there.

He just looked up at Sasuke's hood and stated calmly "I'll be with you in a moment."

This time, the man growled. "What's wrong with this guy? He got something against me?"

Sasuke only closed his eyes. He didn't want this tonight. He only wanted a nice drink to keep his mind off his problems. Only he could see this man; because right in the back of his head was a large bloody hole that can only be made by the bullets of a shotgun.

To be killed in such a way was gruesome, but to not understand or know was worse. Sasuke stated in a whisper "He can't see or hear you because...because you're dead. Last year, you lost a bet and you owed money….to someone very important. You came up short and….you were shot in the back of your head. You died on impact."

The world went quiet and as Sasuke opened his eyes, the man had disappeared for good. The bartender was giving him an odd look.

"Sorry" Sasuke whispered and looked away.

He was cursed. Of course he couldn't leave the house without being noticed or looked crazy upon. He was Uchiha Sasuke.

All of his family were odd in their own way. Before his parents died, the Uchiha father was a sadistic man who loved fire. His mother was an odd follower, a woman who was loyal to her husband when it would even lead to their deaths. Itachi, though different, was some sort of human sacrifice. He often put his life on the line for Sasuke and those he cared for.

And Sasuke was the oddest of them all. While the young teen was odd because he saw people who were dead, the fact that it never bothered him made him even odder.

There was only one time where seeing dead people scared the shit out of him. It was the first time it ever happened and when it all began.

* * *

 _Sasuke lay at his room at night. The smell of burning wood, courtesy of his father, still roaming the air like a ghost._

 _For some odd reason, the seven year old couldn't sleep. His nights were never like this. The house was asleep, but he was up for nothing._

 _The time read 3:22 AM, making the young raven sigh loudly. Closing his eyes, he began to count sheep._

" _...five….six...seven" He whispered. This went on until a loud crash echoed throughout the house. Sasuke opened his eyes and looked toward his closed door. By what he could see, the hallway light was on and someone was standing there._

 _In fear of his father coming in and questioning why he was still up, Sasuke put the cover over his head and peaked through a small opening._

 _The door swung open quietly. The light revealed a large man. Too large to be his father. Blood coated his face, hands, shaggy overalls, the carving knife in his house, and the body in his arms._

 _The man walked in and over to Sasuke's bean bag chair. The boy clenched his teeth at the sight. He was horrified, but if he pretended to sleep, maybe the man would leave him alone. Tears threatened to spill as the child wondered if the man had already killed his parents and brother._

 _The body was also too large to be his father's. After propping the body upon the bean bag chair, the man turned in the direction of Sasuke and seemed to be staring at the ceiling. Sasuke couldn't tell, the man had no face._

 _It felt like an eternity; Sasuke staring at the murderer and the murderer_ _ **not**_ _staring at the ceiling. Finally, the large being turned, and with the knife in his hand stabbed the body again, letting the blood leak on his hand._

 _The raven watched as the man wrote something on his wall in blood. Then he turned around and sank to the floor, disappearing all together._

 _Sasuke laid as still as the body that wasn't propped up anymore. The man just rose from the dead. His skin cracking, and mouth letting out gurgles of unimaginable sounds, the body had finally made it to the corner, where it cowered in fear._

 _After a long pause, the faceless body looked underneath Sasuke's bed. "The wall" it hissed out and the Uchiha was too shocked in fear to wonder where the words came from._

 _Finally adjusting to the darkness, the seven year old could read what was written on the wall._

' _I know you're awake.' Something moved beneath his bed._

 _Sasuke screamed. "Mommy, Daddy! ANIKI!"_

 _He could hear feet shuffling until finally his father and mother ran in, Itachi behind them. "What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?" His mother questioned, running over and hugging the crying boy._

" _There was a man and he had body and he told me he knew I wasn't sleep and he hid under my bed."_

 _Fugaku, the father, grabbed his son's baseball bat and crouched down to look under the bed. After a moment, he stood. "Sasuke, there is no one underneath your bed."_

 _The young Uchiha looked over to the corner and gasped, still seeing the scared man, cowering in the corner._

" _There. He killed that man and now the man's scared." Sasuke watched his family look and frown. Fugaku walked closer to the corner and the faceless victim vanished._

" _How does he look, Otouto?"_

 _Sasuke closed his eyes in fear. "He doesn't have a face."_

" _There's no one there Sasuke. No on in the closet, under the bed, in the corner, in your toybox, nothing. There's nothing to be afraid of."_

 _Sasuke sighed and laid back down. "I'm not afraid of him, mommy. I'm afraid of what he's hiding from."_

 _Itachi slept with his younger brother for the rest of that month, but that didn't stop the different people in his room. They all died in different ways. Ghosts who didn't want to leave, but clung to the living._

* * *

Sasuke sighed and asked for a whiskey. If the dead man that just sat near couldn't drink, the Uchiha would do so in his honor. The bartender gave him another odd look and walked down toward the other end.

Sasuke snorted. He'd have to finish his drink quickly and leave. The bartender was going to go down to the other and and whisper shit about him.

 **NSNS**

On the other side of the bar, sat Uzumaki Naruto and his best friend, Inuzuka Kiba. The 23 year old detective was bored out of his mind.

The only thing keeping him company was the bar's mini television, which displayed false leads of a murder case that began a week ago.

The case was odd. Recently, a body had turned up in a dumpster. On the body's torso was a snake symbol. Surprisingly, there were no leads….until another body popped up and then another. Until finally, there were four bodies with the same snake symbol.

Tsunade, the head of the department, put Naruto on the case. And again, there were no leads.

Kiba was drunk out of his mind, unintentionally making the blond man the designated driver.

"Guys, you will never believe who's here."

Naruto's blue eyes turned toward Genma, the bartender and a close friend. "Who?"

"Uchiha Sasuke"

Kiba's dilated pupils widened at that. Naruto just nodded. He was hoping for a murderer, but he guessed a strange kid could do.

Around town, Uchiha Sasuke was that one kid parents kept their kids away from. The boy claimed to see things that probably weren't there. Naruto didn't mind. He probably did. Naruto found out when he was just 15.

Uchiha Itachi had kicked some kids' ass for calling the young Sasuke a freak; and Naruto helped completely unaware of the situation. He just wanted to help. Sasuke never spoke to anyone. And when he was near, he kept his head down, his mouth shut. No one really wanted to speak to him anyway.

Supposedly, seeing dead people was a huge turn down. Naruto still didn't mind. Even though they never spoke, Naruto assumed the kid was a pretty laid back guy. He never once spoke bad about the Uchiha.

Uzumaki Naruto had a thing for, for lack of a better word, odd people.

He always had.

* * *

" _Naruto-kun, come on. It's time to buy some food."_

 _The three year old blond turned to his adopted father, Jiraiya. "Kay. can I take Gama-chan?"_

" _Sure kid."_

 _Both man and child began walking to the store, Naruto silently singing."_

" _Ooh. I like frogs_

 _And foxes_

 _Foxes and frogs_

 _Do you want to know Whyyyyy?"_

 _The boy looked up, expecting something. Jiraiya laughed. "Why, kid?"_

" _Because they both begin_

 _With Eeeeeffffffff"_

 _The child would go on forever if something else didn't catch his attention. "Tou-san, look!"_

 _Over in the park, was a teenager with his face and head covered and another before him, laughing. The silver haired teen seemed to be ignoring the others well._

 _Before Jiraiya could stop him, his surrogate grandchild pulled away and ran towards the midst of trouble. "Dammit, Naruto."_

 _The blond kid jumped in front of the sitting boy. "Leave him alone or I'll...I'll…"_

 _A teen laughed. "You'll what, kid? If you saw that freak's face, you wouldn't take up for him."_

" _I'll kick your butt. Who cares how he looks. You stink."_

" _You think you're tough, brat? I'll show you tough." The teen pulled his fist back, aimed for Naruto. Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the impact._

 _When nothing came, the boy opened up to see Jiraiya there holding the other teens fist. With a heating glare, his godfather spoke in a whisper._

" _Go home and if this kid tells me that you've been messing with him again, I'll make your life hell. It'll be payback for trying to hit my godson."_

 _The bully nodded and walked away swiftly, occasionally looking back with fear in his eyes. Jiraiya turned around to see Naruto already speaking to the boy._

" _Hello.I see that the boy was being a meanie." He sat next to the teen who covered his face some more. "Do you want to talk about it?"_

 _Unbeknownst to the child, the teen was anti-social. Jiraiya smiled. "Kid, you can take off your hood and mask. Naruto's a kid who doesn't discriminate."_

 _Hesitantly, the boy removed his hood and mask. Naruto stared in awe. And if he weren't giving a deadpanned look, Jiraiya would have snorted._

 _The silver haired kid before him was obviously facing the horrors of acne. They were such drama queens. Silently hoping that Naruto would never turn out like that, he watched for his surrogate son's reaction._

 _It went like this for a moment. Naruto staring in awe and the teen waiting awkwardly. Finally, the blond spoke. "That's so cool! You have stars on your face. I want some. Look!"_

 _The boy touched his trademark whisker lines. "These are comets, but you can't really tell. We're just alike. And if you're like me, that means you're cool. What's your name? I'm Naruto."_

 _The shocked teen smiled at the jitteriness of the blond. "Kakashi."_

" _That's my dad. Do you have a dad?"_

 _Kakashi smiled. "No. I live in the orphanage."_

 _Naruto gasped and turned to his 'father.' "Can we take him home with us?"_

* * *

If he weren't so stressed, he would have laughed over the memory. The next week, Jiraiya had filled out all the paperwork and adopted Kakashi just for Naruto. The silver haired man had become his older brother of some sort.

He was also a detective, one of the reasons Naruto chose to become one at 18.

Kiba nudged him. "So what do you think about Sasuke, huh?"

"What _should_ I think about him?" he questioned his best friend suspiciously.

"You know, he's kind of scary."

"You know, I don't scare easily." Naruto mocked in the same tone.

"But, what if he's the serial killer. If you take him in, that'll be the end of the case."

Naruto rolled his eyes. Just because Sasuke supposedly saw dead people doesn't mean he created them. If anything, Sasuke probably saw those victims of this case.

Naruto blinked. _If anything Sasuke saw those victims of this case._ Naruto blinked again. _There are no leads to this case._

The man jumped up. "Kiba, you genius, don't move. I'll be back." Naruto stood. He felt so weird right now. He was a detective for fuck's sake. But, for the sake of the people in this town, he would resort to this.

Hearing Kiba mumble an okay, Naruto walked down slowly and sat next to Uchiha Sasuke. "Hey" he whispered.

The kid jumped and Naruto smiled. "What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost?"

Sasuke eyed the bartender, but still didn't look at whoever sat near him. The bartender was turned, but Sasuke could see him casting his eyes toward them.

The unknown man next to him was real, Sasuke for some odd reason, could feel his heartbeat. "What if I did?" Sasuke whispered back, still not looking at the man.

"So it's true. Don't worry. I see them too." That made the Uchiha's head jolt in Naruto's direction. He would have gasped if he didn't feel offended. The man was beautiful, hypnotizing; sunny blond hair; strong jawline; tan skin; Azure eyes; and a cheeky grin.

"Are you mocking me or do you really see ghosts?" Sasuke was truly offended. In all his eighteen years, he had never encountered anyone like this. Deep down, it excited him.

"Not really to both. Some people are just dead on the inside. But, from what I've heard, you're not _some people_. I like different people." And Naruto could have could bet on his life that he saw a slight twitch in Sasuke's mouth.

"What have you heard? What'd they say?" Sasuke asked in a whisper.

Naruto pretended to think, brushing his chin for effect. He'd heard everything, but he remembered how a store owner identified him. "One said that you were broken. A bunch of cracks, but an empty void on the inside."

The raven would have certainly clenched his fist in seething anger and hurt if he didn't pay close attention to the disgust in the man's voice and the grimace on his face. _Who the hell was this guy?_

"It's funny; how dumb it sounded I mean. We're all broken and I think that's a good thing. Being broken is the only way light gets in."

Sasuke blushed and, in hopes of ignoring this odd person, gave the bar's TV all his attention, the screen displaying a horror movie trailer. This only made him scoff at the several teens initially failing to escape a psycho. Shaking his head and removing his hood, Sasuke asked for another whiskey. Shit like that was never scary.

The man next to him spoke again. "I don't understand why director's believe that scary movies take place in old homes, hotels, and warehouses." Sasuke hummed. "I think the best horror film would take place in a grocery store.

The manager'll say 'cleanup on aisle fourteen.' And the employee will say in fear very slowly 'but, sir...there is no aisle fourteen.' Cue the horrifying, yet dramatic music." This time, Sasuke did smile and it was by far the prettiest thing Naruto ever saw, along with the pale face.

"You have a sick sense of humor." Sasuke told the blond, attempting to conceal his emotions. Naruto only wanted to see him smile again.

"What can I say? You inspire my inner serial killer." Another smile and the detective felt like a lucky man. However, when the news returned, he decided to get serious.

Taking a glance at the empty and nearly full glasses of whiskey, he watched the pretty face again. "I could take you in for underage drinking, kid. I could tell your brother about this."

Obsidian eyes widened. "But, you seem like you got a lot on your mind and I need your help."

"You've peaked my curiosity" came the quiet reply.

A tan hand pointed to the TV. "You know about those bodies popping up, right?"

"Sure"

"Well, I'm the detective in charge of that case. We call it the 'snake mark' case."

Sasuke frowned. "There are no leads to that case, just the dead…" He froze. "You want me to help in the case by speaking to the dead." He didn't have to ask. He already knew.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I'm out on a limb trying to stop people's fears. You're probably the best lead I have to this case."

The Uchiha eyed the still nameless man suspiciously. For some reason, he could feel that the other wasn't lying.

"We'll be like Ed and Lorraine Warren, you know those people who stop ghosts. But, you and I, we'd be stopping rapists, murderers, and criminals. We'll cease unsolvable murder cases."

Sasuke Uchiha, the oddest of them all, was _not_ good at this. He was used to his big brother being the only one that believed him.

"How do you know we can trust each other?"

"I'm not sure, Sasuke, but while we're talking about it, something is telling me that you want it to stop too. I can feel it." Sasuke almost gasped. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, by the way."

For a moment, both men sat quietly, the raven staring at the table and the blond staring at him. The silence was comfortable and it _scared the hell out of_ Sasuke.

Thankfully, a loud crash interrupted the silence. Naruto watched as Kiba tried helping Genma pick up his broken glass. Sigh. "I should take him home." To Sasuke "I hope to see you again and I hope you'll think about this. It was nice speaking to you. To be honest, I haven't had a conversation that good in decades."

Naruto gave Sasuke, who thought it was dazzling, his normal smile and went to retrieve his best friend. The odd raven watched as Naruto Uzumaki pulled another man from the bar.

"Get home, Sasuke. It's getting late. Oh and tell Itachi I said hi." And then he was gone.

Sasuke nodded when he was gone, head still spinning from some sort of poison Naruto must have slipped in his whiskey; his hands were clammy and sweaty, his heart was beating rapidly, his neck and cheeks were inflamed, and his mouth kept twitching upward.

Without glancing back, the Uchiha sat money on the counter. Leaving the bar with his hood on, Sasuke mumbled something. "What poison makes your heart speed up?"

The 18 year old was unaware of the black car and blue orbs watching, making sure he got home safe and sound.

 **NSNS**

"Aniki?" Sasuke called when he closed the door.

In walked Itachi from the kitchen. "Sasuke, where were you? Are you safe?"

Flustered over his flustered brother, Sasuke pried the arms away. "I'm fine. I was just talking to someone."

Much wiser obsidian eyes narrowed. "Did they call you something? I'll kill the-"

"No. It was different this time. So different that it made me feel weird."

Itachi sat down and pat the seat next to him. "Let's talk about it."

And so they did. Sasuke told his big brother about the dead man who was shot in the head with a shotgun to the offer given by Naruto, leaving out parts where his heart beat fast, but emphasizing the points where he could read Naruto well and vice-versa. "And then the guy tells me he had a decent conversation for once and he told me to tell you hi."

"What was his name?" Itachi questioned, genuinely confused.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He loved the way the detective's name sounded.

The older man blinked until a smile almost ripped his face. "I should have known."

"You know him?"

"Of course. We were in the same graduating class. I met him when some kids were saying things about you. He assisted me in that fight because he said it was unfair."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's aa real sweetheart once you get to know him. Naruto is also Konoha's top detective along with his brother, Kakashi."

If Sasuke knew any better, he'd swear he saw a slight red tint in Itachi's cheeks at the name 'Kakashi.' But, he was still high off the poison from Naruto. Therefore, he spoke nothing of it.

"Otouto, do consider the offer? It will be good for you and the town. And from what you told me, you two may share a bond."

Sasuke nodded as he moved to the stairs. He never felt this way before, and he wanted to feel it again. "I will, big brother. Good night, love you."

"Love you too."

The youngest of the brothers went to bed with a smile on his face. Nothing could ruin this. Not even the dead women in the pink gown as she stormed into the room and hung herself with a cord in Sasuke's corner….again.

 **Alright, what do you guys think? Am I in over my head? Horror and romance is an odd combo, but I'm making it work. Lolgurl, your story will come right after this. bubbly moon requested first and I am attempting to write three stories at once.**

 **How many of you thought the dead guy who sat next to Sasuke was Naruto at first?**

 **Do you guys want Sasuke to help?**

 **What was the cause of Fugaku's and Mikoto's death?**

 **Will the KakaIta pairing suit this story?**

 **Bubblymoon, do you like the horror? I'm sorry, I think I'm only good with writing about ghosts, not crazy serial killers?**

 **Who do you think the serial killer of the "Snake mark" case is?**

 **I can't continue unless I get some motivation, my friends. Let me know. Bubblymoon, please pm me if you have any dislikes of the chapter.**

 **More fluff coming up. Why the hell can Naruto feel the emotions of Sasuke and vice-versa?**


	2. The First Body

**The First Body**

 **Hey, guys. I apologize for updating so late. Fear not, this story will be finished. I do not like incomplete stories. It makes me needy. Well, I hope you all enjoy, especially you, bubblymoon. :)**

He knew she was here. He felt her even before he woke up. Sasuke first sat up and then opened his, staring into the brown eye of a child.

But, no ordinary child. The little girl wore a blue dress covered in dirt. The right side of her face was still burned to the point where there was only a left side. Just like how she died.

They watched each other for a moment until the young girl pointed through Sasuke. "That man behind you….he said he wants to go home….he said he can't feel his neck anymore."

The sound of creaking wood echoed throughout the room. It was, in reality, the sound of a thick rope tightening. Turning slowly, Sasuke met dirty rotting feet.

It stunk. Sasuke gagged and covered his nose, but the rotting flesh was stronger. The man wasn't even awake, his head just down.

 _Crack_. The sound hurt Sasuke's ears when the dead man's neck snapped upward. His skin cracked even more and the Uchiha gagged again.

"Leave" came his whisper.

The man and his rope vanished, but the young girl remained. "I don't know where I am. I was in the grocery store with my mommy, but a big man took me and put me under his floor. He's making me sleep for a long time."

Sasuke sighed. He had done this so many times that it was getting boring; telling people to let go was never his thing. "Close your eyes and think really hard about your mommy. You'll feel peace."

And so the girl did. And by the time Itachi knocked at his door, she had vanished.

Not that Sasuke had a large problem with it, and he had a problem with it, just not a large one, he had only seen victims.

He never saw people who died peacefully; people who accepted death. Only the ones who didn't want to leave or didn't know how.

His parents sure as hell died in the wrong way, but they must have accepted it, because they never visited.

And he was fine with that, he couldn't see his parents how they would be; like they were when they died.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?"

Clearing his throat, Sasuke slipped on a shirt and opened the door. "Yeah, Tachi. I'm fine. I just saw someone."

"Are they gone now?" Itachi asked in concern. There was nothing to be concerned about however. Things like this didn't scare the oddest Uchiha.

Obsidian eyes scanned the now empty room. "Yeah." He answered.

"Oh. Alright, well come and eat breakfast."

Both brothers walked down the steps to their dining area. As they sat, Itachi smiled at his little brother. "So did you think about it?"

"Yes, I have and I've come to a shocking conclusion." Sasuke stated, a voice that would only make his brother intrigued.

"What will you choose?"

"I've discovered that on a regular situation, Naruto Uzumaki resembles a baby fox, when it is a bit serious, he resembles a frog, and when the situation is deadly serious….he looks like vicious fox."

Itachi blinked. Blink. Blink. "Otout-" The doctor burst out laughing before he finished his own sentence.

Sasuke bit on some toast before he began laughing too. "What? Did I say something wrong? Is that not what we were both thinking?"

Itachi laughed even more and began to shake his head, tears leaking from his wise eyes. "Where do you get these things?"

"I don't know" Sasuke smiled. "Stop laughing, it's weird."

"No! You're weird." An accusing, yet joking finger was pointed at the youngest Uchiha. "You say random things and get away with it because it's funny."

"It reminded me of when that woman and her damn cat lived next door and she wouldn't shut up all night calling it." Itachi laughed even more when Sasuke blushed in embarrassment. The 18 year old knew what was coming.

"Do you remember when you held her cat hostage because she let him crap in the yard? And what you said to her when you gave it back? You said 'that cat is a man now.'"

Sasuke couldn't help it; he burst into a fit of giggles. It almost made him depressed that only his brother got to see this. _Almost_.

"Um….let's not forget, Aniki when you put Tora on the tablecloth to see if she would land on her feet. Let's not forget how she fell and broke her little leg when you yanked it from under her."

"That wasn't me, Otouto. It was you. You say weird things and you're mean." Both brothers began laughing again.

When the laughter died down, Itachi leaned forehead and poked his Sasuke's forehead. "We're a bunch of weirdos, aren't we?"

"Yes. There is no brother pair more weird than us." Sasuke giggled out.

The doorbell rang and as Itachi went to answer it, Sasuke stood behind to the side. "Who could be ringing this early?"

Sasuke shrugged and Itachi opened the door. "Oh my, I believe someone conjured up something."

The younger brother tilted his head in confusion before a voice on the other end sounded. "Uchiha Itachi, It's been a long time. And when I say long, I mean a _long_ fucking time. I haven't seen you since you left high school early to be a doctor. I'm sure you made it too."

Sasuke watched as his aniki smiled, a little blush on his cheek. It made him feel weird at the pit of his stomach. "I have become a doctor. And I hear around Konoha that you're the top detective."

"Maybe. You've met my brother, Kakashi right?" A laid back hello resounded on the other side.

And when Sasuke watched as Itachi's cheek tinted red a bit more, he gave out a sigh of relief he was never aware of; because the blush wasn't met for Naruto. And that made him feel weird.

"Well, as pretty as you've gotten, and my have you gotten pretty over the years, my business here is with a much more pretty person."

Sasuke blushed and walked to the kitchen swiftly. He heard the older Uchiha say 'oh really.' Naruto Uzumaki walked right in behind Itachi and a silver haired man who must have been Kakashi.

Naruto looked different in the light; almost like he was made for it. His hair was brighter, his eyes were the sky, and he looked as bright as the day. While he wore a simple white button down and _tight_ grey pants, with his gun sash/suspenders over his shoulders, Sasuke thought he looked very nice.

"Nice to see you again, Sasuke-san." the blond told him happily.

"It is nice to see you too, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto gave the 18 year old a crazy look, then pointed to a chair. "May I?"

Sasuke nodded and watched Naruto sit his gun on the table before sitting himself. Kakashi sat next to his younger brother and Itachi chose to lean against the counter. "This is my aniki, by the way, Kakashi.

"Hold on, just a sec...let me just get these files." The Uzumaki's hand dug around the inside of the silver haired man's duffle bag.

This action went on for about five minutes. Itachi was amused. Sasuke sat deadpanned. And Kakashi's face turning redder and redder until he snatched the bag from his younger brother in annoyance and pulled the files out easily, watching Naruto with a heated glare.

"You do this shit all the time."

Naruto, unaffected by the glare, smiled and grabbed the files. "Just to spice up our lives. So, Sasuke, have you thought about my offer?"

"24 hours hasn't even passed since we met-"

"Aww damnit, now we're gonna have to talk to that old guy who claims know God, or Jashin, on a personal level. Hidan, was it?"

"But, I will help and partner with you until the end of this case."

Naruto grabbed his gun. "Alright, I didn't want to do this, but- Wait, really?" Sasuke nodded. "You'll really help?" The raven nodded again. "Are you seri-"

"Naruto" Kakashi warned.

"Sorry." And Sasuke stared in amusement as Naruto bit his fingernail in nervousness. "Anyway, let's get serious. Before you partner with me, I need to know if you're a potentially good detective."

The man pulled out a small notebook and pen. "Okay, Mr. Uchiha...ah, this case seems to be easy enough. So this man murders his wife in their car right. Being sure that he's left no fingerprints on her body, he pushes her to the side of a vacant road.

He also throws the knife, murder weapon, where it will never be found."

Sasuke hummed. "So an hour later, the police call and tell him that his wife had been murdered and he needed to arrive at the crime scene immediately. But, as soon as he comes, they arrest him immediately. How'd they know he did it?"

Without hesitation, Sasuke spoke. "Because he never asked where the crime scene was."

Naruto seemed to think for a moment until he nodded and wrote something down. "Good. Alright, an American man was murdered on sunday. The people around were all questioned about what they were doing. His wife was sleeping, the maid was getting the mail, the cook was preparing bre-"

"Hold on." Sasuke stopped the detective. "Are you giving me murder riddles?"

The kitchen went silent. Sasuke stared incredulously and Naruto looking at his notebook in...is that shame. Finally, the blond turned the book around to display a page of riddle and blank answers. "I'm sorry. I've had it for so long and I just needed hel-"

Itachi and Kakashi burst out laughing. "He's a kid at heart." Kakashi told them.

Sasuke shook his head, doing his very worst to fight his smile. "This is unbelievable."

Naruto put his head down. "I'm ashamed."

The young Uchiha couldn't help it. A grin broke out and he closed his eyes. "You should be." When no one said anything, Sasuke opened his eyes to see Naruto staring at him with a small smile on his tan face.

Itachi was staring at Sasuke's mouth; Because Uchiha Sasuke has never smiled before anyone.

"Okay, people. Time to really get serious. As you know, I gave you the basics of the case yesterday. I want you to know that during this case, my life will go on the line only. Never yours. Can I speak with you on a more personal note?"

"Sure"

"How do you see people, ghosts I mean?"

When Itachi gave his otouto a nod, the man told them, in a whisper of course, "I don't see ghosts who chose to leave earth immediately. I only see the ones who are afraid of the unknown, don't know what's going on, or just want to terrorize the living. I see people for how they died, not who they were. And I see how they died."

Naruto leaned up. "I hope it doesn't take a toll on you. I mean I hope it doesn't bother you mentally. I'm a detective and I've seen people die in the most fucked up ways."

The Uchiha brothers were surprised at this. Sasuke because no one had ever asked about his feelings like that and Itachi because Naruto easily believed and accepted his brother's oddness.

"It doesn't."

"Wonderful. Because if it did, I wouldn't have let you on the case." Naruto stood up as did Kakashi.

"Why isn't Kakashi on the case?" Itachi asked. "He's a good detective too."

"See. I told you. Dad told _you_ to ask Tsunade to put me on it."

"I want to do it myself along with Sasuke. Tou-san needs to know that you can't always protect me. I can do things on my own."

If Sasuke and Itachi were seeing correctly, they could almost see a stubborn blond child being told how to do things by his older more wiser brother.

Kakashi ruffled his younger brother's hair. "I know that. But, let's not forget how you climbed that tree by yourself when you were young."

"What's wrong with that?" Itachi asked.

"Please don't-"

"Well. It's a story." Kakashi interrupted Naruto. "He said that he wanted to play by himself and not be protected by himself. He fell from the tree sideways and broke his arm. That's not the worst of it.

He wrapped it under his shirt and dad and I didn't find out until three hours later. It got infected."

Naruto sighed. "Understand that I'm trying to keep my little brother alive. You can understand that, right Itachi?"

The man nodded. "Naruto"

Naruto said nothing.

"Naruto"

"-"

"Come on" Kakashi sighed and shook his brother's shoulders. "Who's the best younger brother of them all?"

"Me" the blond grumbled out.

"And Who's going to help Sasuke solve this case?"

"I will."

"And who's the best youngest detective in history?"

Naruto finally laughed as Kakashi jabbed his shoulder. "I am" he mumbled.

Sasuke deadpanned. So he spoke too soon. Maybe there was a brother pair odder than them. Azure eyes watched him; they were striking and it made the usually stoic Uchiha feel funny.

"What we should do first is visit the place where our first victim was found. Are you alright with seeing graphic photos?"

Sasuke nodded and photos were handed to him almost hesitantly. Naruto was still staring at him. "I'm okay" the raven assured and finally Naruto let go of the photos.

The photos were gruesome. The woman was cut straight down her stomach and burned onto her chest was a snake. There was a bullet wound through her left eye.

Sasuke sighed. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Did they find any sexual assault's to her body?"

"No, thank God. It hurt a lot to tell her parents. She was a college student that worked hard for what she wanted."

"Oh." Sasuke wasn't sure if he was cut out for this kind of work. He had seen plenty of deaths; visions replayed to understand the dead more. But, would this take the little life he had left?

If it were for the lives of others, he would complete it with no hesitation.

"Where did this happen?"

"She was found in a room of a club. No witnesses. No calls of gunshots. No calls in the night of disturbances, struggling. Nothing. It was almost like her death was invisible. That's why you're so important. Because you're the heart of this case."

"So we'll be heading to the club to paranormally investigate." The Uchiha already knew.

"Now you're talking. Hai." He reached for Sasuke's pale hand. "Shall we, partner?"

The raven took it.

 **NSNS**

Sasuke moved behind Naruto. The club was muggy and people would occasionally grind on them, making Sasuke gag. Uchiha Sasuke _was not_ a social person.

So when some milf grabbed his chin and tried explaining how she would ruin his innocence, he yelped and thrashed away, falling into Naruto's arm.

"I got you" The blond whispered. "Come on, let's hurry the hell out of here." The rest of the way, Naruto held the kid close.

"I told your brother that I would protect you, that milf was messing it up. I apologize."

"It's okay. She just surprised me, is all. I had no idea people went to clubs in the morning" He said it before, he wasn't good with these kinds of things. When they moved closer to the rooms and restrooms, Sasuke tensed. "Are we close?"

"Hai. How'd you know, Sasuke?"

He smelled the contents of a dead body. He felt the presence of a tragic ending, but oddly enough, he didn't feel the ghost of the victim. "It smells like she had been rotting for weeks."

Naruto nodded. "She was. Although she was the first victim found, autopsy showed that she was killed way after the the other victims. Meaning that the murdered could just have bodies stocked up."

The blond halted before a door blocked by crime scene tape. "Ready, kid?"

Sasuke couldn't argue because even if he were 18 years old, he still found himself to be a teen. But, Naruto was no older. He only looked at blue and nodded.

When the tape was removed swiftly, Naruto opened the door cautiously. The room, despite Sasuke's senses, was clean. Bare with nothing in it, but the stench of old flesh. Sasuke covered his nose.

To think, his whole life of witnessing it, Sasuke never got used to smelling dead people. "I'm going to go check in the bathroom. Let me know if you see anyone."

"Hn" The room grew darker when the Uzumaki left. It went completely black when Sasuke closed his eyes. Thinking hard of the victim, words began arise; words from the night of the tragedy.

 _Someone please help me. Please._

 _No, don't._

Sasuke opened his eyes and thought. The whispers were obvious signs of struggle, but they were too faint. Almost as if….

He gasped. Obsidian eyes turned to the corner where the woman sat staring at him. "If you can see me, does it mean I'm alive?"

The Uchiha walked over and crouched down before the dead woman. "No. I'm sorry." the woman sighed. "Can you tell me what you last remember?"

A shake of the head no and Sasuke asked why. "Because, I wasn't here last, I was outside a cafe. I should be there. I don't know why I'm here. That man is scaring me."

The Uchiha assumed she was speaking of the serial killer. "What man?"

The woman said nothing, only pointed behind Sasuke before vanishing. Loud stomping was heard….from beneath the wooden floor. Louder and closer until, finally, they ceased behind him.

Dark eyes narrowed at the floorboard. His thoughts and everything around it were quiet.

 _Crack_

A large hand sprouted and so did a man's twisted neck and head from the wood. He growled at Sasuke. Everything happened so fast; the dead man began crawling, in a twisted motion, rapidly, making Sasuke crawl against the wall backward and scream. "Naruto!"

He could feel heavy breathing against his face, but as soon as Naruto came from the bathroom, it vanished into the air. "Sasuke, what happened?"

Strong arms wrapped around him and all feelings of fear cowered away themselves. "Sasuke? Come on kid, talk to me. Did the woman's ghost scare you?"

Finally opening his eyes, the Uchiha pushed his head into the blond's chest. And tears began leaking because this never happened and he never knew how afraid he was of change until now.

"No. It wasn't her. There's some-" He turned to see the twisted body of the man next to him, staring at Naruto as if the detective were a threat. "He's here now. He's right next to me."

The dead man swiped for him, so Sasuke wrapped his arms and legs around Naruto's broad torso. "He's trying to get me."

"Move away" Was the only thing Naruto hissed out and then the man vanished back into the floor. The Uchiha sighed, but made no move to remove himself from the Uzumaki.

"I thought you said seeing them didn't take a toll on you." Naruto let out.

Sasuke shook his head in the chest. "It never did. That man tried to do something to me, like he was trying to defend himself."

"Are you alright?"

Even if he were, the raven wanted to remain on the detective. He was hanging on him as if Naruto were a jungle vine. Hell, he didn't even know he was this small until now. So, to keep this comfort, Sasuke shook his head no.

"Well, you are with me. You mind telling me how some dead guy is here."

"I know why it still stinks in here."

"Why, Sasuke?"

"There's another body here...under the floor."

Naruto stood up with Sasuke still hanging on him. "Hold on" Without thought or struggle, the blond unclinged the raven and put him on his back, being careful to put his pistol in his waistband.

The 18 year old watched as Naruto moved gracefully around the wood, pushing down first with the tip of his foot. It went like this until one of the planks made a loud creaking sound.

"This doesn't belong here" Is what the 23 year old mumbled. "Hold on to me." When he was sure Sasuke was tightly wrapped around him, the blond bent down and began yanking to plank up.

It went on like this until there was a full hole. Big enough to step down in and large enough for the all the flies on the dead body to move. "Shit" Naruto hissed out.

It stunk, but not that much. This is what scared the Uzumaki. They were being played with. "This body is precisely a day old."

Sasuke gave a tilt of the head in confusion and if Naruto weren't so stressed, he would have deemed it cute. He guessed the decaying man with the gunshot wound in his head overpowered his feelings.

And right on the torso, was a snake mark, almost fresh and hot if the body weren't so cold. "That's him." Sasuke whispered.

"Someone put this body here yesterday and they knew I'd come back. Someone's playing with us." Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "Again, no associative evidence….no latent prints...and the only probative thing in here is the snake mark on his chest."

"Sasuke?"

"Hn" Sasuke still clung to Naruto just in case the man returned.

"We're dealing with a genius. This guy or girl has thought of these murders in every killing, investigation, even time and place of death. This club is getting closed down. It'l break Sasori's heart, but it's the best."

"Who's Sasori?"

"The owner of this club. He fell into a depression when the first body was found here. I don't even have the heart to tell him about it. Poor guy."

Sasuke nodded. Everyone's lives were being ruined because of the snake mark case. "Naruto, there's more."

"About the girl?"

"Yes. She can't talk here. The reason why she's so quiet and the reason why no one called about disturbances is because she wasn't murdered here. Someone put blood all over and signs of struggle to make it seem like that."

"Same for him?"

"Hn...the girl wants to show us"

Naruto sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'll call Kaka-nii-san and Tsunade-baa-chan, talk to Sasori and we'll head out to the real murder scene."

 **NSNS**

Sasuke watched as Naruto and Sasori spoke to the cops. The red haired man was a sweetheart and despite Naruto's saying, Sasuke could swear that Sasori was just 17.

The Uchiha felt really bad for him as well; he felt it was his fault that two murders had gotten by in his club.

In the bar section, there was a man with a hood on, gray strands of hair falling onto his face and glasses gleaming in the light. There was a body found upstairs and everyone was meant to leave.

But this man sat drinking and smiling as Sasori was told his club would have to shut down for good. When Someone walked by, blocking Sasuke's view, the man was gone. The raven would have regarded him a ghost if he hadn't been drinking.

But no...the oddball out was real. "Sasuke, you ready?" Naruto had come up behind him.

"Yes" And they left to get in Naruto's car, leaving behind the coroners, detectives, police, and non-witnesses.

The safe haven provided Sasuke to think hard. A series of questions formed in his mind.

 _Why had the man jumped at him? Why was Sasuke so afraid?_

 _Why did the dead man feel Naruto a threat? And why did it only take two words from the blond to dematerialize?_

 _Why didn't it scare Naruto? Was Sasuke a liability to the case?_

 _Who was the man still drinking by the bar? Why hadn't the police told him to leave? Why was he so peaceful with the aura of the club?_

This made Sasuke think of his parents and their deaths; so sudden yet so peacefully gone.

"Don't think so hard." Sasuke lifted his head from the window. Naruto kept glancing over at him with a worried gaze..

"How'd you know?" Was his only response. Since they met the day before, it was clear that Naruto could feel everything about him; his thoughts, his emotions, his own feelings.

"I could feel it" came the obvious reply. And Sasuke almost sighed at being so used to it already.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I was just thinking about my parents." Naruto hummed in response, and to just hear the man's response led Sasuke to confiding.

"I was thirteen when it all went down. My family is an odd bunch of people. My father was obsessed with fire and my mother was a fierce follower, always loyal to her husband, even in death."

"Does it still hurt?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke did his best to hide his emotions with a grimace. That was an alternative emotions he felt for his parent, mainly his father, for leaving so fast and not saying goodbye.

"No. My father was having an affair with a co-worker and he got her pregnant. She threatened to tell my mother because she felt guilty. I know because the cops showed us his and her emails a while later. My father burned her house down and killed her and the child.

Before the cops could capture him, he came home and shot himself in our kitchen. My brother was in his last university year and mother got home before me. She took my father's gun copied him in their bedroom."

Sasuke paused when he thought of his mother. She was so innocent and so delicate. She loved them all to death. "She loved that bastard. She gave love and never really got it back. Even in death. And he cheated on her and took life from her."

* * *

" _Tou-san, Kaa-san! I'm home from school." Usually his mother said something along the lines of 'hi, sweetie' and his father gave a grunt from the living room, but that wasn't the case._

" _Kaa-san." Nothing. Assuming his parents went shopping, Sasuke dropped his backpack and went to the kitchen for a snack. He opened the fridge and pulled out a box of tomatoes._

 _When the door was closed, the 13 year old finally looked to his left...onto the ground...where his father lay….half of his fucking head gone._

" _Tou-san" Sasuke whispered. He stared at the man until he was too blurry to see. "Mommy!" He yelled._

 _It wasn't that Sasuke didn't love his father, because he truly did. Even when Fugaku chose to favor Itachi and called him weird when he claimed to see ghosts, Sasuke still loved him._

 _Sasuke ran up the stairs to his parents room. "Kaa-san, father is-" He froze. On the ground with a gunshot wound to her head was Uchiha Mikoto._

 _She was still alive, sputtering as if she made a mistake. Sasuke sobbed then and went to lay the woman's head on his lap. "Mommy, don't talk okay? I got you, just don't talk-"_

" _Sasuke-kun. I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I love you. So much. You're my little baby."_

" _Please don't talk, mommy. I'm calling an ambulance right now. You'll be out of the hospital in a second once they heal you."_

 _Mikoto tried to speak again, but her movements were slower and slower. "Mommy?" Sasuke called out._

" _Is she dead?" Sasuke looked up to see an old man with a hospital gown on. A carving knife through his stomach._

 _He sobbed even more and rocked back and forth, holding his mother's head tightly. "Leave us alone!" He told the dead man. "Go away."_

 _And then there was only one living person in that room. Because the man had vanished and Uchiha Mikoto sucked in her final breath and never let it back out._

" _Not you, Kaa-san. You don't have to go away." He tried whispering in her ear. "Please don't go. I need you."_

* * *

When Naruto stopped the car and pulled out some tissue for Sasuke, the Uchiha realized he let tears fall.

"Does it still hurt?" the blond repeated.

And this time Sasuke nodded a little and sobbed out. "I'm sorry." he whispered. It was always like this. He only whispered when he felt insecure and out of place. "I came home after school and found him on the floor, I called my mom and went upstairs. She wasn't dead yet. The bullet stopped, so she was alive until I got home.

She said 'sorry, Sasuke' and that's it. Next week, I was living with my brother. I'm sorry, Naruto."

Naruto helped him in cleaning his face. "Don't be. Seeing a physical body again _did_ take a toll. It reminded you of that day when you found your parents. I don't understand that because I was adopted, but I'm sure if I saw my father, Jiraiya, dead, I'd feel betrayed as well.

I do understand how hard it is to see a body like that. It's not a vision, it's the real deal. Being a detective and seeing that is hard. It always will be.

That's why my brother said 'if it ever gets easy, stop.' And if you ever get scared like that again when you see someone, please tell me."

Sasuke stared at Naruto then. Again he asked, who the hell was this guy? An angel? no probably far from it. Could he be the devil? No, he cared too much. He was so nice and even though he hadn't known the Uchiha for more than 24 hours, he accepted him.

He had a sick sense of humor, but a bright personality. That's why Sasuke liked him so such. The detective was so eccentric, the Uchiha had to admit that before meeting the blond, life was a bit dull.

Naruto Uzumaki was...something else. The blond squinted his eyes shut and titled his head to the side. "What?"

Sasuke found his feet interesting. "Nothing"

"Alright, let's head to the real scene. We've stopped next to a corfield. Now, I don't scare easily, but if some children of the corn shit appears, let's just say, I'm not afraid of punching a demonic kid."

Sasuke gave a small smile and looked out the window. "There's that smile" The Uzumaki told him.

 **NSNS**

"A warehouse" Sasuke stated the obvious once they pulled out to where the dead woman had told them.

"Basic horror movie style" Naruto stated and hopped out of the car. "It took two hours to get here from the club. The murderer's either highly dedicated to make a statement, or he likes attention."

"Same difference" Sasuke replied. For a moment they just stared at the warehouse. Naruto took the first step.

"You ready?"

"Hn" Naruto took that as a sign to grab his flashlight from the back and move forward.

The warehouse _was_ the basic horror movie style; dark; many obstacles; chilling. As soon as they walked in, Naruto stood close to Sasuke from behind, almost leaning over the smaller man.

"She was killed over there." Sasuke pointed to a chair in the corner and immediately began to see everything.

"She was here on her own, first. She wasn't even sure why though. But, there was someone already here. She said he had a large mask on and he scared her.

She tried hiding when he came in, but she knocked down a pipe. He used a knife to cut through her stomach. Before he shot her in the head, she looked outside, seeing a white truck that she saw around a lot. License plate number EJ347A. Then everything went black.

She's been stuck here for months and more people are popping up. She's afraid." Sasuke brows furrowed as he watched the man leave the warehouse after cleaning up. And then, he looked right at Sasuke as if he could see him.

"I've got you" Naruto whispered, so the raven sighed. "Come, Sasuke. It's getting late. We'll finish this tomorrow. That's a big lead."

When they walked out to the car and hopped in, Sasuke almost jumped when the woman, covered in blood, stood by his window.

Her eyes filled with tears. "If you don't find him, I won't rest. I want to go to sleep." And then she vanished.

It was clear now, that Sasuke didn't like this case. He was seeing people with so much going for themselves taken from the world too fast.

"You alright, Sasuke? Nothing frightened you too much?"

"Why do you care?" Sasuke stated more harshly than he intended. "I'm sorry. I di-"

"I understand. This is new to you. You're not used to anyone but your brother caring about your feelings and beliefs. It's new and you're probably not good with change." Sasuke gasped. "But, if you really want to know, I'll tell you."

"I don't know." Sasuke looked at him crazily, but Naruto just smiled sadly. "That's right, I don't know why I care yet. Even before Itachi asked, I already held a sudden urge to protect you; physically and mentally. So when you're afraid and things are messing with your mind, I feel funny. I feel bad because I can't take what you see away, what you feel when you probably feel alone."

Sasuke blushed at the intensity of the conversation. All day, every time it revolved around Naruto, he felt weird. He yawned and leaned his head against the window.

"Go to sleep for now, kid. When you see a bit more of the world, I'll be here to save you from it."

Sasuke laughed. "I had no idea you were a fan of Jeff the killer. Creepypasta, is it?"

"Hai. One of my favorite lines. But, seriously do get some sleep. Don't mind how creepy that sounded."

Sasuke giggled softly and again Naruto felt like a lucky man. "Three times the charm" the blond whispered.

 **So, how was it? Those of you who guessed are very smart. Or did I make it obvious.**

 **How'd you like the small Narusasu interaction? I tried to show the difference between the Uchiha brothers relationship and Kakashi and Naruto's.**

 **Did you guys really think that the case would take a toll on Sasuke. This was his first time in 11 years being afraid. How many of you feel super bad for Mikoto? :(**

 **I hoped you all love it. I'll try to update each day. Please feed me motivation by reviewing. There are more twists to this story. I do not like writing at night. I always look behind me. :)**


	3. He Knows

**He Knows**

It had been two hours since Naruto dropped him off. Itachi had sent a message informing that he would work late shift and not return home until the next morning.

So, here Sasuke sat, on the couch at 10:15 PM, reading a book on murder mysteries, oddly enough.

The Uchiha was peacefully reading and peacefully thinking about Naruto Uzumaki. How the detective was a pure sweetheart and how he was growing all too fast on Sasuke.

His weary thoughts were interrupted by the sound of calm feet walking in the kitchen. It wasn't Itachi because the doctor was at the hospital and Sasuke knew no one else, so it had to be the dead.

Sasuke sighed and put his book down. "Come see me." When the feet continued to move, but moved no closer, Sasuke stood on his own feet. _An uncertain ghost, then,_ he thought.

Obsidian eyes scanned the kitchen carefully. No one was there. In fact, when the Uchiha scanned the rooms recent emotions, there were no forms of life. And because of such, the 18 year old hissed out a "Damnit."

"If you want to play, I won't help." He spoke to the empty house. "Reveal yourself now."

A loud stomp echoed around the home. It came from above the raven. Right above the kitchen's light. When Sasuke glanced up, the object shattered and his face was protected too late.

The glass nicked his cheek and left eye. "Ow" Now he couldn't see from that stinging eye. "Christ." Crouching down, Sasuke began to feel for the shards on the glass.

"That's one" He told no one in particular as a glass shard was received. He felt more, Moving his hands in different places, and the froze.

Feet. _Cold Wet feet._ Clenching the glass, his head jerked up, but saw no one above him, standing over him. "Itachi?" He called out. It was too dark. The feet moved away.

Nothing. Sasuke stood slowly. This situation was a tragedy waiting to commence; He could only see from his right eye; someone or something was terrorizing him; he had squeezed the glass shard in his hand, making his palm bleed.

"Itachi" Nothing again. Another stomp shook the house. "Ouch!" The impact had made him fall back onto the glass, cutting his arms and hands.

"This isn't funny" He whispered. The stomps began again and tears leaked from his eyes. Finally standing, Sasuke moved to the stairs, using his outstretched arms to guide him.

Walking ever so slowly, he finally made it up to the live closet. It sounded like rattling bones behind the door.

Rasping, staggered breathing from ill-formed lungs.

The stench of putrid rot, the foul air of refuse and sewage burned his nostrils.

"You're here" Sasuke hissed as he opened the door. _Nothing_. He wiped his bloody palm on his shorts. Something was playing with his mind. A loud crash sounded from below.

The Uchiha turned around and froze. He hadn't left yet, and he sure as hell locked it when Naruto dropped him off. But, the front door was wide open, revealing the night. He could swear he didn't leave it open.

Anything that walked through could harm him. "Itachi" He called for the third time. It was clear to say his brother hadn't come home. _Someone_ was trying to harm him.

 _Riiiinnnngggg_

He jumped and hesitantly reached into his back pocket. "Itachi, if you're playing-"

"I'm not your brother." A deep voice hissed on. "Far from it actually." Sasuke's breathing increased. "You never got a chance to thank me, _Sasuke_. My murders are helping you, but it makes me angry. Because you didn't say thank you." The line went dead.

Sasuke said nothing, just kept staring at the front door. It slammed shut and every living light in the house blew out.

The raven ran to his older brother's room. His finger shook as he searched a top drawer. The object of his sudden desires gleamed with the moon; Itachi's pistol. Another crash and Sasuke crouched, pointing the pistol right at the door.

 _Ring. Ring. Ring_.

He wouldn't answer; he knew who it was. After five sharp intakes, the pale man realized something wasn't right. While his breathing was rapid and lit his heart on fire, something was deeper….slower...to the right of him. Itachi's sheet rose up. " _Did he kill you too?"_ A question around the whole house. The sheet wasn't even the shape of a body. It was something far more sinister. Far more surreal.

When the stomping returned, blood splattered onto the sheet. Intelligence finally reached Sasuke, and the man reached for his phone, quickly dialing a number.

" _Detective Uzumaki"_ Came a groggy voice.

"Naruto" He sobbed out.

" _Sasuke? What is it? What's wrong?"_

The Uchiha sobbed even more. "The snake killer. He wants to kill me. Someone's in the house and Itachi is gone. I'm scared."

" _I'm on my way. Stay on the phone with me"_ He could hear rustling and then the slam of a door and car door, followed by sirens. " _I need backup at the Uchiha' residence, stat. You with me?"_

"Yeah"

Sasuke looked away from the door to the sheet on the bed. The blood and figure still remained, the sheet glaring at his pale face. "Naruto, there's something on the bed. It's not moving."

" _Put me on speaker, love."_ If he weren't so afraid for his life, he would have blushed as he complied. " _Just listen to the sound of my voice. I'm there with you."_ The sheet fell flat on the bed.

However, the stomping continued. His phone sounded for a text. The"Naruto" he whispered.

" _I'm around the corner. Just don't hang u-"_ The line went dead.

 _Creak_. He wouldn't look. He wouldn't. _Please no. Naruto, please._ Just as someone touched his shoulder, the sirens became louder, a sign that the police had just arrived. Every light came on again and the stomping ceased.

"Sasuke!" He heard Naruto call. "Search everywhere. I want this block cut off and I want to know how seven calls of disturbances were blocked from the station."

The Uchiha dropped his gun as Naruto ran in, gun fully loaded. "Naruto" He clung to the blond for dear life.

"Shh. I'm here now. I'll never leave you again. I swear it."

"I don't want to stay here." Sasuke sobbed out.

The detective held him tighter. "You won't."

And Sasuke let out a breath he sure as hell knew he was holding.

 **NSNS**

"Hold still, love."

The raven watched as Naruto poured rubbing alcohol onto a cloth. Grabbing the pale wounded hand, he dabbed its bloody cut. "Ow" He whispered.

"Sorry." The blond mumbled. "Tomorrow, when your eye and hand is healed, I'm going to teach you how to properly use a pistol."

Sasuke grimaced. "Are you saying I'm incapable of handling a gun?"

"No,no" The blond smirked, and Sasuke thought it could be the best way to make him feel...good. "I'm not. You're just capable of taking _everyone's_ heads off."

The Uchiha's mouth twitched as the other man turned to retrieve a needle and thread kit. "Really, baka? At a time like this? Some psychotic killer wants me as a victim because I didn't thank him for something and you want to joke?"

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

It was hard to shake his head in a disapproving manner since Naruto was busy stitching the cut above his left eyelid. So he settled with a "You're unbelievable."

"I'm lightening the mood and joking because I want you to know just how safe you are with me. I'll protect you with me life. We can joke because we don't _have_ _to_ worry. When you're with me, even the devil won't step to you."

His pale lips twitched. _There he goes again,_ Sasuke thought; making his heart speed up, his hands clammy, and heat rise to his pale neck. _That damn poison._

Naruto moved back and began to wrap a bandage around the small man's head. "What poison?" He asked in confusion.

Sasuke blushed. "Nothing."

"Oh, okay. Now that you're all patched up, we should get some sleep. Big day ahead of us tomorrow." He easily grabbed Sasuke's waist and lifted him from the bathroom sink.

"Where will I be sleeping?" _Please not alone._

The blond gave him a crazy look. "Are you nuts, Sasuke? Tonight was hectic, so with me of course."

"Oh."

 **NSNS**

The 18 year old couldn't sleep. Not because of the prior event at his home and not even because he was being targeted. No, his thoughts were on Naruto. And not the way the older man made him feel.

It had to do with the ghosts that he recently encountered. The man at the club felt intimidated by the blond and when Naruto told him to move away, he did. When Naruto was put on speaker phone, whatever was under Itachi's sheet had disappeared.

Did Naruto have a connection to the dead? That was Sasuke's main concern.

"Don't think so hard." Someone spoke behind him.

Without turning around, the teen spoke. "You could feel it?"

"Yeah. Why're you up thinking anyway?"

"Can you….can you see them too, Naruto?"

By then, the other man sat up and yawned. "See who?"

Sasuke pointed to the corner. "Them." He couldn't see them, but he saw their shadows. They watched from afar, staying as far away from the two men as possible.

Naruto sighed. "No. But, I can feel them…..I'm similar to you, Sas. I don't see ghosts, but I feel their presence. It's just a slight shift of the rooms atmosphere."

"Are you an angel?"

"No. What makes you think that?"

Sasuke turned then, because when Naruto had spoken, the people in the corner left the dematerialized. "Because every time, you're around, ghosts look at you as if you're a threat. They vanish as if they were never there."

The blond, instead of answering immediately, laid down and patted the spot next to him. "C'mere" Sasuke moved closer, hiding his face and blush in the tan man's chest.

"I don't know why they leave. But, it's been like that for as long as I can remember. I guess that's why I don't scare easily."

"Oh….you could have told me that." The blond's chest rumbled with his laughter. Sasuke smiled, feeling utterly content and safe when Naruto wrapped his arms around him.

"I didn't think it was that important. My asset is solving case. Yours is seeing things. We make a good team. I also like ramen."

"Okay. Now you're just talking out of sleepiness. Go to sleep."

"As long as you do too." The blond mumbled and pushed even closer to Sasuke.

 **NSNS**

 **The Next Morning**

Naruto watched the paler man sleep. He had just gotten off the phone with a hysterical Itachi, whom knew nothing about the events until four in the morning. He would be by later to pick Sasuke up.

"Why are you watching my face?" Sasuke mumbled and if Naruto weren't so tired, he would have caught the blush.

"I wasn't. I was just seeing if you're eye was okay."

Sasuke opened both eyes and stared at Naruto. "And your conclusion."

"Everything looks so damn….beautiful."

Sasuke found himself stifling the stirrings of a smile, watching the odd man who had chosen to just pop into his life. In a flash, he held his finger on Naruto's forehead. "Thank you for getting me out of the house. I'm glad you saved me."

"Don't mention it. But, why poke me on the forehead?"

Sasuke blushed, memories flooding back to him.

* * *

" _Sweet dreams, Otouto." A 10 year old Itachi poked his younger brother's forehead._

 _The younger of the two pursed his lips together. "Aniki, why do you poke my forehead so much? Sometimes it hurts."_

 _Itachi chuckled. "It shows you that I love you very much. It's a way I express my love."_

" _I love you too." Sasuke smiled and snuggled under his covers._

" _You can do it to, Sasuke. To anyone you love very much. Anyone you care for, even romantically."_

 _The five year old cocked his head to the side. "Roman-ti-cal-ly-ly? What's that?"_

" _Like mother and father."_

" _Oh. Will I do that too?"_

" _One day when you're married and in love."_

" _Will you be happy when I get married, big brother?"_

" _Very. You'll find a nice pretty gir-"_

" _But, I don't wanna marry a girl."_

" _-...oh. Okay. When you marry whoever you want, I'll be very happy."_

" _And then I can poke them in the head and make it hurt."_

 _Itachi laughed again. "The harder the poke, the more you love them. Now get some sleep."_

* * *

"Why I poked your forehead?" Sasuke repeated.

Naruto nodded. "I have no problem with it. I've just never seen something like that. So, why?"

A blush so intense burned his stomach and cheeks, sending ripples through every vein and muscle.

"No reason" he whispered.

Whispering was his thing. A response he was well accustomed to when this sort of insecurity and fear arised.

"Alright then. Itachi will be over later to get you and make sure you're okay. He went crazy over the phone until I told him you were safe with me. Woke me up at four this morning, hyperventilating."

"I'm sorry….he's often worried about me."

"No need to apologize. Kakashi has always been like that with me. Do you know that this is my first case alone? He wouldn't leave me alone. I figured this time, I knew how to take care of myself….and you."

Sasuke rested on his elbows. "Something's wrong with you, Naruto. You want to take care of me, but I see ghosts, victims of society. I'm not normal. It's like you're attracted to odd things."

It was a dumb statement. He knew if when he let it out, but Naruto made it clear when his face resembled mock-shock. "What? Me attracted to odd people? No way!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with."

"We really don't need to go anywhere. We just need to head to the station and scan the plate, see who it's issued to and find something. Other than th-"

"Hey, Naruto! You up, loser? Your dad and brother are here, so get the fuck-ow-sorry, Jiraiya." Someone called from downstairs as soon as the door was opened.

It was Naruto's turn to roll his eyes. "Kiba" He got out of bed, Sasuke following suit. "He's my best friend and also my best pain in the ass. Come on."

The two man walked downstairs to the kitchen. There was a white haired man sitting at the table, reading...was that a porn magazine? Kakashi was reading an orange book. And a man he could only assume was Kiba walking up to them.

"Naruto, where the hell have you been? I haven-oh...Sasuke Uchiha, the kid of all dead things." Sasuke frowned and he was sure there was a hint of disappointment in the brunet's voice and face.

"Shut up, Kiba." Naruto growled dangerously. "Dad, this is Sasuke Uchiha, my partner for the case and a good friend. Sasuke, this is my father, Jiraiya."

The white haired man looked up from his magazine and smiled. "It's good to meet you, Sasuke-chan. It's about time I met you."

Naruto then noticed the magazine in Jiraiya's hands. To Sasuke, he said. "He's a pervert, but he cares a lot, trust me."

Kakashi then looked up. "Good morning, Otouto."

"Morning, Aniki. Did you guys find anything concerning whoever was calling Sasuke's phone?"

"No" Sasuke sighed. He had been expecting that. "But, someone was definitely in that house. That's why I had Itachi stay at my place."

Time froze. Sasuke and Naruto stared at the silver haired man in utter shock. "What?" He asked almost too innocently.

There it was. Itachi and Kakashi had se- he couldn't think about it or say it. He held a searing urge to vomit and discomfort shook his body.

"Nothing." Naruto said all too quickly. "Anyway. Thanks to Sasuke, we got a really big lead. We got an identified vehicle and its plate number. All we need to do is find out it's owner and we'll have our first suspect."

"I have equipment in the living room, why don't you just try it here?" Naruto smiled and thanked his brother.

"That's cool. I wasn't trying to leave so early, anyway. Come on, Sasuke. We're finally going to end this."

The blond motioned for the Uchiha to follow him to the living room and sat at a large computer. "All right what was the license plate number again?"

"Uh...EJ347A."

"M'kay. We'll find out who this fucker is." The Uzumaki mumbled.

From the kitchen, Jiraiya yelled 'Language!"

The 23 year old snickered. "Sorry, tou-san….hm..scanning...scanning...we got something."

Both men were so engrossed in the appearing file, they had missed the phone ringing and Kakashi's curses.

"It says here, that a man named Orochimaru purchased this truck seven years ago…."

Sasuke smiled and jumped a little. "That's great. We got our suspect."

"...The only problem is….Orochimaru died three years ago." The smile faltered.

Kakashi poked his head in. "Naruto, bad news."

"What is it?"

"Enforcement found another body. It's only hours old. It happened last night."

"Shit" Naruto hissed and Jiraiya didn't even correct him. They were all stressed. Kiba put his head in between his hands to show that.

"That isn't it."

"What else could be as bad?"

"It was an elderly woman. She was our leading witness. She had seen the killer's face when he ran from the scene yesterday. He saw her too, apparently."

Sasuke flinched when Naruto's tan fist punched the glass table, shattering it just like their lives and happiness because of the case.

 **And there is Chapter three. I hope you all liked it. Thank you for the reviews. Also, I hope you all understand that this should be the craziest fic ever; horror from ghosts, crime from the murders and it's case, mystery from the serial killer, romance from Narusasu, and humor from Naruto.**

 **Please feed me motivation by reviewing. It make me happy and cheery. I love reviews. Just give me them and nobody get's hurt.**

 **Tell me how you feel about the case and oh shit Sasuke's a potential victim. And there's something more with his parents….if you catch my drift. I'll update soon.**


	4. Stolen Lives

**Stolen Lives**

 **The reviews I got for the last chapter really made me tear up a bit. I was having a really bad day and you guys cheered me up, so I'm really grateful. My sister broke her wrist and I got sad, so yeah. Thanks and best wishes to you all. Well on with the story. :)**

"Naruto" Kiba came over and put an arm around the tan shoulder. Sasuke Uchiha realized he was a selfish man. People were dying from some killer left and right and here he was, being jealous over a simple gesture.

"We gotta stay calm about this, m-"

"How can we stay calm? This guy is taking lives for the hell of it. There is no connection to these murders. This guy is doing a show and Konoha is his stage. _I'm_ in charge of it all; _I_ have to tell citizens 'oh your, brother, or mother, sister, father, niece has been murdered.' And then they call and asks for leads, but they know it's a cold case.

I'm giving them the little hope I have left, so I don't have any for myself. What's worse is that this guy wants Sasuke for no reason."

Kakashi walked over to his younger brother and began whispering lowly. "You want to keep everyone safe?"

"Of course I-"

"No, stop. _Do you_ want to keep everyone safe in this town?"

"Yes" Naruto whispered almost desperately.

"Then, get your head back. You won't make good decisions when you're over thinking, but your decisions will be much worse when you're too angry to think. Now, what did I tell you when you decided to do this alone?"

Naruto didn't answer because he knew Kakashi would for him. "I told you that the longest miles are the ones you walk alone. Now you need to trust the people who are sticking with you through this case: Me, Tou-san, Kiba, Itachi, and _especially_ Sasuke.

If you want to finish this, trust him _and_ protect him. You can't do that if you let your heart conquer your mind and vice-versa. Get them balanced. You understand?"

The room grew silent as everyone watched Naruto expectantly, The Uchiha showing the most concern. Everyone waited for the man of the case to choose: give in, give it all, or give up.

"Well?" Sasuke whispered expectantly. The blond turned to look at him. Sasuke liked this new look and aura of the Uzumaki. It was fierce, combined with the desire to protect and move forward and a touch of something the Uchiha wasn't aware of.

"I'm going to keep it. I'll try to find out who the hell this guy is and what he wants from us. I hate it when you say the right things, nii-san." But he was still smiling at the raven.

Kakashi stood. "That's what you get for breaking your own table, kid. Now, what are you going to do first?"

"Hm...Sasuke and I are going to go identify the latest victim, inform the families too. But, this time, we'll make leads on Orochimaru."

Kiba cocked his head to the side. "A dead guy?"

"No. We'll ask the victims' families if they knew anyone associated with Orochimaru, figure out who knows him, and find that goddamn truck….and also teach Sasuke how to use a gun."

"Now you're talking. You better head out soon anyway. Autopsy starts and you don't want anyone jamming their noses into your case, unless it's Tsunade-sama."

"I'll get dressed." Sasuke mumbled and walked upstairs. "I guess it will take a toll on us" is what the young man mumbled as he hopped into the shower, cold water still running down his body like….he looked all over….observed the contents coming from the shower head….froze….blood.

"Aaaahhhhhhhh" Not caring if he sounded like a female or not, Sasuke jumped from the tub. In a second Naruto charge in with his gun.

The blond took one look at the shower and the raven and sighed. "Why'd you scream, Sasuke? I almost had a heart attack."

Sasuke looked in the shower and over himself. Nothing. No proof of what just captured his body. "There was blood instead of water coming from the shower head." He chose that moment to feel all over himself and blushed. Naruto was staring at him naked and that made his own blood drain.

It made it much harder to look into those azure striking eyes that seemed so innocent, tough, so caring. The detective helped him up and into the shower, making Sasuke yelp.

"Calm down, Sasuke. I'll just stay here until you're done washing up. You've seen ghosts, I became your friend; Your past haunts you, I comforted you; You're a bit anti-social, I talk to you. Seeing you naked won't change anything between us."

Sometimes, Sasuke got the feeling that nothing ever would.

"Hn" The man washed him self quickly, a bit happy that the shower curtain was covering him. "Could you hand me a towel?"

The towel was pushed forward, but when Naruto's hand brushed Sasuke's, the younger teen jolted and his body went numb.

 _What are you doing to me, Naruto?_

"What's wrong?" The blond asked.

"Nothing"

"Oh. Okay. Well, go and get dressed. I put an outfit on the bed for you."

When the towel was securely around his waist, the Uchiha nodded and left the bathroom swiftly, a blush spread all over his pale body. And when the bathroom door was closed, he crouched down against the bed to calm his heart.

"Okay...clothes...gotta put them on." Sasuke put an over sized button down that covered his thighs and a his own shorts from the prior night.

Instead of waiting for the 23 year old, and seeing him in a towel, Sasuke decided to head downstairs where the others still were.

Jiraiya was still looking at his porn magazine while Kiba and Kakashi picked up the pieces of Naruto's glass table. Kiba looked up first and scanned the Uchiha.

"So you're the kid who sees dead people?"

He said nothing. He could only speak to Itachi and Naruto freely. If anyone spoke to Sasuke, Naruto would reply. It was just how they were.

Thankfully, Kakashi answered for him. "Naruto'll come down and kick your ass, Kibs."

The brunette scoffed. "I'm his best friend, he wouldn't."

Sasuke decided to speak. "How long have you known each other?"

"I met him when we were seven. We got in a fight at school." _Did everyone meet Naruto during a fight or harassment?_

Those were long years that Sasuke couldn't compete in. Kakashi laughed at Kiba's statement. "I remember that. I was ready to kick your ass for touching my little brother. But, you guys were both brash, idiotic, and animalistic."

Kiba smirked and Sasuke thought he resembled a feral dog. "You look jealous, Uchiha."

"And you look threatened." The smirk faltered. "Don't worry. I'm not going to steal your bestie. I'm his partner for this case and that's it. You can chill."

The smirk came back. "You're a cool guy. Maybe Naruto was right."

"Right about what?" Naruto had come down the stairs in full detective gear. He grabbed his keys and began pulling on Sasuke's arm.

"Nothing important." Kiba drawled.

"Okay, Sasuke and I will be leaving then. Any of you want to join?" He opened the front door.

"I'll trail you later." Kakashi answered.

"Kay. Love you nii-san, love you tou-san, bye Kiba-shit head."

When they returned his feelings, and Kiba cursed him back, Naruto pulled Sasuke out and moved to the car. The Uchiha only stared at the tan hand on his arm.

"I can walk alone, you know." he deadpanned.

Naruto looked at his hand and dropped it. "Sorry. it's a habit now. With the case and all."

"It's cool. Shall we?"

Naruto smiled and opened the door for him. "We shall."

As the blond sat in the driver's seat, he smiled sadly at Sasuke. "I'll have to see the identified body and speak to the family. If you don't want to be around….you know, you could stay outside."

The raven shook his head. "I told you I would help with this case, not sit around while you get all the recognition." His lips twitched when a deep, but boisterous laugh escaped the tan lips. "I'm sticking with you and I'm with you to the end. _After_ the end."

The Uzumaki smiled and pulled out of the driveway. "See that's what I like about you: You may seem antisocial and odd on the outside, but when people get to know you, you're something else.

You're mysterious, lovely, dedicated to the things you love. You care so much and when I don't have hope left, you give it to me. I know you hurt on the inside. You want people to understand, you want your parents, but most of all you want to love yourself.

But, you know what, I think I-" The man stopped abruptly.

"You think what?"

"I think….your a great person." Naruto whispered, a slight blush to his distinguishable whisker marks. "You're beautiful. So damn beautiful that people just want to protect you because they don't want the world to get to you."

Sasuke yawned a bit. 'That's very sweet of you."

"Thanks. Try to get some sleep, we did wake up a bit early. The morgue is an hour away anyway."

"Okay. Good night." The raven mumbled. The last thing he heard was Naruto's laugh.

 **MINDSCAPE**

 _The woman stared at her lover in anger as he crouched on the floor crying. "You did what? You're a disgrace to this this home! This family!"_

" _I loved her! I couldn't leave her alone."_

" _You ruined this! Don't you dare speak about loving another woman when I gave you all my love!"_

 _The faceless man cried even more. "I wanted to be with her, love. I wanted her. She was better than you to me. I'm so sorry."_

 _The woman's hand opened a drawer that had suddenly appeared. She crouched near her husband with the gun. Moving the hair from the side of his face, she whispered soothing things._

" _Shh. Don't worry."_

" _I love her. I didn't mean to. I want her, not you or the kids. I'm not happy here. But, I was afraid of what would happen. I want to be with her."_

" _Shh. And you will be."_

" _Wha-"_

 _She didn't hear the gunshot, just the sound of the man falling onto the floor. So it was true: Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn._

 _She was more like him than he thought. Wiping her eyes, the woman put the gun to her head. But in this dream-nightmare-it was Sasuke's._

 **MINDSCAPE END**

Sasuke jumped and gasped for air, holding his head. He wasn't supposed to be in that nightmare; it didn't belong to him, but he was fiercely connected to the people it did. He just didn't know who.

Someone touched his forehead and he leaned into the hand. "You okay?"

"Naruto" The dream scared him, but for some odd reason he felt for the woman. She seemed like someone who would always remain loyal. Someone who had enough of her lover's bullshit.

"Sasuke, talk to me. I need to know if you're fine. We're at the morgue and I need you here." Naruto told him in a whisper.

The Uchiha sighed in comfort at the blond man's voice. "Now I am. It was a scary dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

 _Oh, Naruto. Always putting everyone else's feelings before your own life._

"Not yet, we have to get inside."

"Bu-"

"I'm fine, Naruto. Come on." Sasuke got out of the car and began walking, slowly for Naruto to catch up.

"Alright." Someone came out the door and motioned them forward.

"Hello. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and this is my partner of the case, Sasuke Uchiha. We're in charge of this case and now I understand there's a body we're supposed to examine."

The woman nodded. "My name is Kurenai Sarutobi, I own this morgue. You know my husband, Asuma."

"Oh yes. He's a great detective and friend."

"Thank you. I teach him all I know." The two adults laughed for a moment and Sasuke felt so out of place. With all the unknown bodies standing behind Kurenai, watching them slowly. "Come in. The woman's name is Chiyo."

"I feel like I've heard that before. How bad is it?"

"Even worse than the others. He stabbed her in the face multiple times and shot her in the head, but thankfully we were still able to identify her. Here we are."

Kurenai opened a door, but turned to hand Sasuke and Naruto gloves and a face mask. "Just to be safe."

When they walked in, Sasuke sighed. "She's not coming in here. I think she fully passed."

"I can't feel her either." Naruto said. "She must have accepte-oh my God."

The Uchiha watched as Naruto walked closer to the body. "What?"

"I know who she's related to. Give me the phone. I'll break the news to him."

 **NSNS**

Sasuke watched Sasori cry over his grandmother's body. The man had broken down, ripped off his mask and gloves and just fell onto Chiyo.

"I don't understand how this guy can't be found." Naruto sighed and rubbed his temples. "We're losing people; lives by the day."

"We'll find him" The raven assured, lacing his pinky with Naruto's own. "We can't give up...on Sasori or anyone."

"I won't give up on you. Let's no forget, he wants you. And for some reason, I don't think he'll stop until that happens. But I won't….I won't let him take you from m-...from your brother."

"I know"

Sasori cried even more as Kurenai comforted him. "I didn't even get to say goodbye. We got into an argument last month and I left the house. She tried calling...oh God."

This went on for minutes until the sobs became whimpers and then small whispers in his granny's ears. Finally, the man wiped his eyes and said something along the lines of 'granny' and 'crying like this.'

He stood and came over to them. "I'm sorry you had to see that." He mumbled. Naruto put his hands on the red head's shoulders. "It's reasonable. I want you to be strong okay. We'll find this guy. All we need to do is find known associates of Orochimaru and-"

"Orochimaru?" Sasori interrupted, incredulous.

"You know him?"

" _Know him?_ I used to work for him. He owned an antique shop and I used to advise on what to sell and to whom. I basically ran that shop. But then, Orochimaru-sama began to get weird." Sasuke noticed a grimace.

"First it was the things he'd say to me...and then the touching came. I was scared. And I was so happy when this new guy came in. He became Orochimaru's favorite and I knew why." And he shuddered. "Me and the new guy didn't like each other much. Kabuto was it? Yeah, Kabuto."

Naruto pulled out his notepad. "And how does this Kabuto look, just incase there are others with the same name?"

Sasori thought for a moment. "Gray hair, kind of spiky in a ponytail. Round glasses."

It was Sasuke's turn to show incredulousness. "I saw him before. When we were in your club, he sat there, smiling. Like he was okay with it all. I dismissed it because I thought he was a ghost."

"That ability of yours is special. This case is really helping people understand you, kid." Sasori smiled sadly. "I just wish granny Chiyo-"

"Hey hey, calm down." Naruto said. "We'll find this guy."

"Do you think Kabuto may be targeting me? Because the two bodies in the club and my granny-" He had started crying again and this time Sasuke moved forward and hugged him.

"We'll give you time. We'll catch this guy, okay?" Sasori nodded and cried some more. Naruto carefully grabbed Sasuke and the raven would have thought about it if Kurenai hadn't grabbed Sasori.

"We'll get to the bottom of this, Sasori. Stay strong."

"You too. With Sasuke and all. Keep him safe."

"I will"

 **NSNS**

"Is that him?" Naruto asked. After much research, both men sat in the car at night in an alleyway, Kakashi and other officers behind them. Kabuto lived in the apartments close by and nearby residents did say that a man would come to that alley every night.

Now there was a hooded figure standing by a dumpster. When he threw down his cigarette and glanced down the way, Sasuke caught a glimpse of the man's glasses. "Yes, that's him."

The blond pulled out his small speaker. "Suspect has been identified. Proceed to confront."

"Alright, kid." Tsunade's voice sounded. "And nice work, the both of you."

They observed some more. "Possible suspect is looking behind the dumpster. He's observing something." Naruto stated.

"What do we do?" Kiba questioned, waiting on the orders anxiously from the other end.

"Wait" Tsunade stated sharply and Sasuke assumed that Kiba had a hard time following orders. "This is the gaki's case, he'll make the call. Do not mess this up."

Kabuto leaned down and pulled out an object. "What the hell is that?"

"It's someone's body." Sasuke answered.

Naruto let out an animalistic growl in his speakers, one that made the others cringe. "Move in." Before anyone, the blond jumped out with his gun. The police lights came on.

"Freeze. Put your hands in the air."

 **NSNS**

Sasuke now sat at the countertop of his own kitchen eating an apple. Naruto sat next to him, on his laptop. The other guys had taken Kabuto to the station. The questioning would begin tomorrow and they could get on with their lives.

The summer air had mixed in with the male sweat on their bodies, hence the reason Naruto sat shirtless. Sasuke was watching every movement from the corner of his eye.

When the apple was done, It was thrown in the trash. "Naruto, you're gun is still out on the table."

The blond looked at it. "Of course." He stood. "I haven't taught you how to properly use it. Come on, Uchiha."

Sasuke hopped off the counter and grabbed the pistol. "See I know how to use this thing. I get it from my brother."

Naruto crossed his arms. "Then that means I'll have to teach Itachi too. Hold on." Naruto came up behind him and held onto Sasuke's arms, guiding him right. "See, this isn't some gangster movie. You hold it like that, you'll fly back by the force."

Sasuke tilted his head behind him, staring up at Naruto. "You know your stuff?"

"Of course" But it was a throaty sound, whispered like Sasuke's insecurities.

He didn't know who, but one of them had leaned in. This was as surreal as the ghosts he saw, but so much better. It was unexplainable, yet _right there_. The kiss wasn't so intense, but both man pulled back in sync for breath.

Naruto smiled lovingly. "I've been wanting to do that all day. I feel great now."

Sasuke smiled and pecked the blond's lips again. That was his first kiss and it felt like he was used to it. That was just how it was with Naruto.

"Lightning just struck right there." Naruto told him and laid the pistol on the table. "And don't tell me you didn't feel it because I won't believe you."

The smaller man giggled. "I did."

Just a their lips were about to connect again, Naruto's phone rang. Sasuke sat on the countertop as Naruto spoke between his legs. "Hold on, love. It's my brother…..hello...yeah, he's with me….uhuh….what...no..I can't believe this...I'm on it…..okay...bye love you."

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"Kabuto is dead. Someone got into the station and killed him. He had the snake mark and it wasn't a tattoo. The serial killer wasn't him." Tears pricked at the blond's eyes. "That one's on me. I put him in there." And he laid his head in Sasuke's lap just to cry in guilt.

Now that Sasuke thought back, he probably should have payed more attention. He would have noticed how disgusted Kabuto looked when he retrieved the body. Or even how bewildered he looked when The guns were pointed at him.

 **So this is a snake mark case and Kabuto or Orochimaru are not the killers. Shit, guys. Even I don't know what's going on. Kidding. What's with Sasuke's dream? And the Narusasu has officially started.**

 **There is a big twist in the next chapter. Two actually. Please review, and I'll update.**


	5. You Are What You See

**You Are What You See**

 **Hey Everyone. Once again thanks for the reviews, they make my day. Well, as I've said, there are two twists in this chapter and this may just be the last chapter. ;)**

Three weeks. Three weeks and nothing occurred. No bodies showed up. Nothing. But whoever the killer was sure as hell didn't quit.

Every day, he'd send Sasuke a text or even call him stating that he was still waiting on him. Just him.

Which was why the Uchiha lay on his bed with Itachi keeping guard downstairs. Naruto was out speaking with the families of each victim until noon.

So the Uchiha had absolutely nothing to do. No one to kiss….he couldn't think about that; he'd just blush like some damn school kid; something that 18 year old men don't do.

"You're still a baby" Someone stated from the door. The raven lifted his head to find his brother leaning against the door. "18 years is fresh out of high school, you're still a teenager."

"Hn" was all he said and Itachi walked in to sit on his bed.

"You okay, Otouto?"

"I'm fine just bored. Naruto left me alone today, dumb fox frog thingy man."

The older brother laughed. "That's his new alias?"

Sasuke smirked. "Only when he makes me mad."

"Look at you, 18 years young and you've already found someone that cares deeply for you."

"Yes" Sasuke stated, smiling and his brother knew a joke was coming on. "But if he ever cares for someone else deeply, I'll-"

He froze and that feeling came again; it shook his bones, rattled his brain, and twisted his intestines. He felt so deep in this feeling, that he couldn't register it. It wasn't fear, disgust, happiness, or anger. It was just there. And he could feel it almost like Naruto could feel dead people or the Uchiha's emotions.

Itachi must have noticed too. "What?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I was going to say 'blow his brains out,' but I had this dream weeks ago in Naruto's car. It's crazy and somehow I feel connected to it."

"How often do you think about it?"

"My mind isn't free, so I think about it when I can. When I do, I feel like I'm with it. It's just this woman shoots her husband in the head because he was having an affair. And then she turns the gun on herself. The worst part about it is they don't have faces."

Itachi sat there for a moment and then squeezed his younger brother's shin. "I think it's time I told you something that's been a secret for five years."

"About what?" He just asked. He wanted to feel as innocent as possible, but he already knew.

"About Kaa-san and Tou-san's death."

It went on as an unspoken agreement that they would never revive the death of their parents; it wasn't normal. Because of one mistake, four people had died and not together. It wasn't good to talk about such things.

So now that Itachi held some secret over it, Sasuke decided to sit up and rest his back against the headboard. "Is the dream the actual truth, aniki?"

"Yes….after the full examination of the case, law enforcement revealed that they never found father's fingerprints on the gun. Mother killed him. So the true story is, father killed his side lover and their unborn child and told mother. They argued for a moment before she killed him, then she went upstairs and turned the gun on herself."

"Just one mishape?" Sasuke questioned. He should have been mad about this. Angry that Itachi never told him. Angry his mother killed their father. But all he could do was tear up again at how heartbroken she was when dying.

"Just one" Itachi mocked.

Uchiha Mikoto was something else for the both of them. When their father wasn't home, she took care of them and made sure that they grew up as men. She gave them love and she was gone in a blink of an eye. For Itachi she made sure to give him a childhood; one that their father tried to take in order to make Itachi a man. For Sasuke, she made sure that he was just as important as his older brother when Fugaku didn't notice it. And they loved their father, so much, that even now they were confused as to why.

* * *

 _A 10 years young Sasuke sat at the table watching his mother make lemonade. His father and brother were outside just finishing up training for Itachi's upcoming dojo tournament._

 _Sasuke sighed. Mikoto looked over at him. "Something wrong, my little Sasu-kun?"_

" _No, kaa-san. I'm just tired."_

" _...Your father really loves the both of you, but you want to know a secret?" She whispered coming closer to him._

 _The boy leaned forward and looked around discreetly. "What is it?" She kissed his forehead._

" _I think I love you boys more than he does."_

" _Really?"_

" _Yes. Do you want to know why?"_

" _Why do you love us more?" Sasuke asked, almost hanging on the edge of his seat. He was expecting his mother to say something about Itachi being strong or about him being so sweet._

" _Because you are my little warrior. In mind and strength. You hold on to what you love and you don't need to show anyone that you care. You're fascinating. You can see things with your beautiful eyes and mind. Itachi is the same. He may be good at everything, but he's my little sweetie too. He has a big heart and he wants to be a kid. That's why I love him, because he never gives up. I love you more because I see you."_

" _Wow" Sasuke stated, astonished. Just then Fugaku and a tired Itachi walked in. Mikoto got down four glasses to pour their lemonade._

 _Fugaku spoke. "Itachi is surely getting better by the minute." He kissed Sasuke's forehead. "Elbows off the counter little one."_

 _As Mikoto gave them drinks, Fugaku kissed her lips and told them that he was going to take a nap. But not before he told Itachi to go out and do another round of practice._

" _No." Mikoto stated sternly. "He's not going out there again. He's good enough." The man made no move to argue. Mikoto was the true boss._

" _Fine" the man grumbled and left the kitchen. Itachi sat next to Sasuke and poked his forehead._

" _I know you're tired." Mikoto spoke._

 _Itachi nodded. "Hai. My hands hurt. I don't want to do that anymore."_

" _And you won't, little one. Are you going to invite some friends over? Be a child for once. I'll punch your father if he thinks you aren't still a child."_

" _No, mommy." Itachi smiled as Mikoto gave he and Sasuke eskimo kisses. "Can me, and Sasuke have a movie night since father will be at work?" He would have gotten the stick for that grammar._

" _Yes. But, who gets to choose the movie?" She asked in a daring tone. No one said anything, so she put her fist out. "rock paper scissors?"_

" _Yes" Itachi yelled and he and Sasuke put their arms in the circle._

* * *

They really loved her. And she loved them 110 percent.

"Were you angry with her?"

"Never was. Never will be. But, Sasuke there is something else."

"What?"

"When kaa-san shot herself, the bullet didn't really go through. When you thought she took her last breath, she really just went into a slumber. One where you'd think-"

"She's alive." Sasuke whispered. "Just say it."

"She's been alive in a coma for five years. I kept it from you because I didn't want you to see her like that."

Sasuke didn't know what to feel; happy that his mother was alive or sad because she was barely. Happy that Itachi told him or sad because it seemed too late. He didn't know when tears leaked from his eyes or when Itachi hugged him. "Where is she?"

 **NSNS**

After five years, Mikoto Uchiha still looked utterly beautiful. Her pale skin glew in the hospital room that she lay in. She was breathing on her own and her head was fully healed, but she wasn't awake.

"I was going to tell you next week. Last week, her finger kept twitching. Said she'd wake up in a month . We're still hoping."

Sasuke couldn't speak. He walked up to his mother. "She doesn't even look like she aged." He whispered.

"Well, she is only 38." That was something the boys never spoke about. How Mikoto had only been 15 when she was so in love with Fugaku and how she had Itachi at the same age. She made it work and that's why they never talked about it.

"I come and check on her every once in a while, the other doctors take care of her. I never once thought about pulling the plug." Itachi stated.

Sasuke touched his mother's forehead. "Oh, mommy." The words must have been magical; extraordinary even. Because Uchiha Mikoto shook her head a bit when they were spoken.

And he drew his hand back as if he had been burned. Tears filled his eyes and he turned to his brother. "I have to go."

"I know it's hard, bu-"

"No, aniki. I just need to think right now. I don't….I can't see he like this; Unresponsive and lost to the world. I'll call Naruto."

Itachi poked his brother's head sadly. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. You know I understand things and I understand that you didn't want me to see her like this. And even now, I can't. I'm just happy you told me." Sasuke hugged his brother.

"Okay, take the car. I'll just call Kakashi. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

When he left the hospital room, Sasuke ran to the parking lot and got in the car. Laying his face on the steering wheel, and the tears finally rushed out. "Oh, God." Pulling out his phone, he called Naruto.

"Hi, Sasuke." Naruto said tiredly, but he could almost hear the smile in the blond's voice.

The Uchiha let out a sob sort of laugh. "Did I wake you?"

Shuffling could be heard on the other end. "No I was taking a nap, it's been a long day. What's wrong?"

"Can I come over? I want to talk." Sasuke pulled out.

"Sure. Please don't ever ask to come over. Stay on the phone with me so I know you're safe. And please don't cry. Whatever it is, I can fix it."

"I know" Sasuke mumbled, wiping his eyes. And he really did; because Naruto could cheer him up any time he needed it. "I'm sorry for waking you."

"No. Don't say that. It's like that american song. I don't know anything but the chorus though." Sasuke giggled. "I'm serious. If you want you call, don't worry about it.

You can wake me up in the dead of the night, wreck my plans.

This is a drop everything kind of thing. Swing on by, I'll pour you a drank.

The doors unlocked, I'll leave on the lights. You can crash my party anytime."

Sasuke laughed at that.

 **NSNS**

"So your mother's been alive all this time? And you don't know how to feel because she's unresponsive?" Naruto questioned sleepily as Sasuke nodded against his chest.

"Yeah. I guess I wasn't ready. I'm not angry with Itachi, just sad about it all. I missed my mother so much and to see her like that, it hurts."

"Shh. Don't speak okay? It's a fresh wound. It still needs to be cleaned before we can stitch it. So just process it and calm down."

"Okay" Without looking, Sasuke leaned up and poked the blond's forehead. He still hadn't told the other why either. Was it because he was afraid of rejection or the mutual feelings, he wasn't sure. Nonetheless, he never told him.

Naruto was okay with that, however. He was patient for Sasuke. "Want to hear a scary story?"

"Sure"

"Yay. So after this man hangs up with his cab driver, who was coming to pick him up, someone calls his phone an hour later.

All he could hear was loud heavy breathing. The voice on the other end speaks." In a low tow, while rubbing up and down Sasuke's small back-the 18 year old could only giggle- Naruto spoke for the voice. "'I'm coming to get you. I'm getting closer….closer...closer.' Thinking it's just a prank the man of the night hangs up.

Five minutes later, his phone rang again. 'I'm closer to your house. I'm coming to get you.' This time, the man's scared, but he hangs up. Ten minutes later, it ring again. All he could hear was that heavy breathing. 'I'm here for you.' Finally, the man gets a knife and runs to the door."

Sasuke rested his elbows on either side of Naruto and began to stare at the man. "Ooh. I can tell this is gonna end bad."

Naruto smiled. "So he opens up the door and there….stood….the cab driver. And the driver says. "I came to get you, are you ready?'"

The two man stared at one another. And a sound escaped that the blond absolutely loved. It was strangled at first and Sasuke put a pale hand over his mouth, staring at the detective in shock. It escaped through the hand as well.

"Go ahead, kid." Naruto insisted and the full set of giggled, laughs, and occasional snorts jumped from the Uchiha's mouth, coming together for the most beautiful sound ever. He kept laughing and laughing.

"Oh Kami. I actually thought someone was going to get hurt. You silly goose."

A blond eyebrow was raised. "Goose."

Sasuke giggled some more. "Silly fox then." Eventually, he stopped just to smile at his partner.

"There's that smile."

Laying his head on the tan chest, the raven whispered. "Naruto?"

"Yeah, Sasuke?"

"Thank you….for understanding me. For not thinking about me the way other Konoha citizens thought."

"I'm one of a kind, Sasuke. I'm not like other people. Unless you wrong me, I'm fine with whoever you are. I'm different and so are you." Sasuke yawned. "That's the second time you've yawned during one of my speeches. Am I really that boring?"

"Far from it, Naruto." He mumbled.

"Go ahead and sleep, Sas." And the raven fell asleep, not even realizing that he was tired.

 **MINDSCAPE**

 _Sasuke walked through the empty halls of his mind. Everything was bare; full of cracks, but a dark empty void. Like the citizens said._

" _Being broken is the only way light gets in." he whispered to himself, only hearing Naruto._

" _Hey!" Someone called. The Uchiha turned around to see a dark shadow standing near._

" _Yes?" He whispered back._

" _You're a ghost." It said._

" _What?"_

" _You heard me, Sasuke. You're a ghost. You're not real. You think you are, but you're not. All this time, you've been living a lie."_

 _Now, parents should teach you to never listen to anyone in your dream, especially dark shadows. But, things like this never happened, so Sasuke was vulnerable in this unknown territory._

" _Naruto knows I'm real." Sasuke whispered._

" _That's a lie. I have proof. Naruto can feel dead people. Why do you think he can feel your emotions?"_

 _The Uchiha said nothing. This thing had a point. That much was obvious._

" _How do you know this?"_

 _The shadow stepped forward and Sasuke gasped. Black hair….dark eyes….pale skin. "Because I'm you."_

" _Listen. You can end this all, this lie. Naruto's taking a shower and he left his pistol on the dresser. Come to our side, Sasuke. We belong there."_

 **MINDSCAPE END**

Sasuke jumped up and gasped. Naruto wasn't there and the only light shown in the room was the crack under the bathroom door and the moonlight.

He felt weird. He was having urges to end his life. Looking next to him, he grabbed the pistol on the dresser.

If he took his life, he'd be leaving his brother, his mother, and his Naruto. But, his mother already left him, and he wasn't real anyway.

He sighed and began to hyperventilate. He didn't want to go, but he had to. It wasn't safe to stay. The mirror caught his eye. He'd have to choose for himself.

He watched himself, waiting for proof that he wasn't real. He could see dead people and he was seeing himself, just waiting…..the reflection blinked.

Sasuke jumped and unconsciously moved into a defensive stance. The reflection chuckled and spoke in a dark tone.

"I'd advise you not to look in your mirror or out the window. When you look at me, you'll see that I'm everything you fear; everything you've ever dreaded.

The impossible is possible in this dark void. Nothing can be seen, but everything can be imagined. I'm a ridiculous and surreal face that knows your deepest darkest secrets, decaying heads of the damned that moan and grunt. And all your greatest fears do, in fact exist out here.

Don't worry, me. This is merely a mirror. You can see me, but I can't get into your dimension. _But_ , i'm already in your mind.

You're vulnerable; out in the open. What I mean may you ask?" The reflection grinned evilly.

"Your reflection, me; I allow you to coexist with me.

Just don't blink."

But, Sasuke blinked and he fell back onto the bed, which was _never_ behind the mirror. Just as the shower turned off in the bathroom, Sasuke put the gun to his head.

* * *

" _You're alright, my little Sasuke. Go to sleep."_

 _The young boy sighed. "But I saw him, he said he wants my family dead. I don't want to go."_

 _Mikoto smiled. "You just have to fight the demons within you. And if you love yourself, just know you'll never be alone."_

 _Sasuke smiled at that. "We'll always be together, right, Kaa-san? So he can't get us. The demons can't separate us."_

" _We will. I'll always protect you. You demons are mine. Goodnight love."_

* * *

His final thoughts echoed as the bathroom door was opened. _They told me to fight the demons, so I loaded the gun and pulled the trigger._

The shot rang out through the whole house, ending Sasuke's life and an inner turmoil that had always been there, just ignored.

 **Please don't be angry with me. I'll let you all process this. I know, you guys are probably like, why does she does this? I did this in Camera, while something like it. Please tell me what you think and review, I will update soon. If there are no updates, then maybe the story should end here. I really want to know what everyone thinks. I really hoped you liked this Bubblymoon. :) Guys, have a good day or night, wherever you are in the world.**


	6. All They Could Ever Have

**All They Could Ever Have**

 **Well, here is another chapter. We still have to find the killer don't we? And see what happened to Sasuke. I hope you guys like this one and thanks for reviewing. Everything about the last chapter shall be explained.**

When your life flashes before your eyes, you're supposed to see everything you've ever loved vanish. But, in reality, that isn't how it is. Uchiha Sasuke was a man of odd people, so he witnessed everything he ever hated in one blink.

The ghosts watching him

His mother _not_ dying

People whispering

So he closed his eyes for fear of seeing it all. "Are you going to open your eyes? I'm scared too."

His obsidian eyes opened directly and he saw no one before him; just a blank white canvas. Was it his mind speaking? "I'm down here." The voice spoke again. Looking down, Sasuke noticed a five year old version of himself.

Same hair, same eyes, same clothing, same voice from when he was five. Crouching down, Sasuke rubbed the boy's head. "Why are you here?"

"I'm not really here. Only you can see me because I was sent to teach you things. I'm here because of you."

There was nothing but white beyond them. No walls, nothing. "Where is 'here,' sweetie?"

"This is the in-between. You didn't pull the trigger yet when you tried to go to your real home. You're still sitting on the bed, but your mind is here. You aren't dead, but apparently you're not going back to earth either."

Sasuke stood fully then. "Why not?"

"Because the sky told me to show you some things. I'll be your guider out here." The boy reached for Sasuke's hand and his own was willingly taken. "You can't see anything, but I can see everything. You hold my hand and you will."

The real Uchiha made a wish to be non-existent as soon as he put the gun to his head. This place doesn't exist because it is the past, the present, and the future.

"What will you be showing me?"

The small Sasuke smiled up at him. "You may not believe it, but you have a big impact on the lives of others, big me. I am going to show you how it would be if you never existed."

"Okay."

"Off to the first stop then." Something whirled around them, like a tornado and both versions fell onto the non-existent floor.

He could feel dirt under him. Looking up, Sasuke noticed that they landed in a cemetery. "Is this where I was buried?" He questioned.

"No. I'm showing you worlds where you never existed, older me. Places where you were never thought of, never mentioned. Never lived in order to die. That headstone is what we want to see."

The boy pointed to a grave. Although he had a hard time, Sasuke finally made out the words. "In loving memory of Uchiha Itachi." He gasped, let go of the five year old's hand, and fell onto the ground. As a result the image faded for him.

The younger Sasuke still stared at the place where Itachi lay. "Fugaku was tougher on Itachi. That's because Mikoto wasn't forcing him to look at another child. All his attention could be on Itachi.

But, Itachi wasn't okay with this life. When we, you and I, were alive, we could comfort him like Mikoto could. But, in that world, Mikoto couldn't comfort him. She was too busy arguing with Fugaku about stopping his training. Itachi was alone without you.

When the house was asleep, Itachi used a rope in the basement to...yeah." The younger Sasuke turned around. "It's sad because when we were real, we really liked Tachi."

Sasuke shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. Itachi isn't the type of person to give up on lif-"

"He's a human sacrifice. All Fugaku and Mikoto did was argue over him. He figured that if he was gone, they'd be happy. But, if you were there, none of this would have happened. He figured that his parents would be happy….That was the first time Itachi had ever been wrong."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked. He didn't like this world. If he could take it all back, he'd do so in a heartbeat. He just didn't know how.

"Can you grab my hand again? I'm scared too, you know." Without asking why, or even telling the boy he wasn't scared, Sasuke grabbed his hand and the images came flooding back.

They appeared in a dark house. There were no dark shadows lurking, no faint smell of death, but Sasuke still didn't like this house. It made him nauseous. "Why are we here?"

"To catch up on old times." Young Sasuke whispered sadly. Mikoto walked into the living room, and the older Uchiha instantly tried to duck. "We don't exist. She can't see or hear us. No one can."

"Oh." Sasuke watched his mother. She was crying, hyperventilating. Grabbing a bottle of pills, the woman poured some in her hand and then her mouth. "Why is she doing that?"

"Itachi's gone. She thinks it's her fault. It's ours actually, bigger me. We were the one's who wished we never existed. Mikoto is depressed."

"Where is tou-san when he's needed?" Sasuke asked in fear. This was worse then watching his mother supposedly die again.

"Some things never change. Fugaku is doing the same thing he did when we existed. He's with the other woman."

Sasuke scowled. His mother fell on the floor crying. "Can we go see someone else, I can't see her like this?"

"Very well." The little boy said way beyond his years, but he was Sasuke, so it made sense. Another vision appeared.

"Why are we in the hospital?"

"We're here to see our love." The child whispered. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Instantly, tears welled up in Sasuke's eyes. "A while ago, the snake mark case took a large toll on him. He's not crazy, but he's on suicide watch. They never found the killer, but we know who it was, right, older me? We knew all along."

"How old is he now?" Sasuke whispered.

"He's 24. Come on, I can't be here for long. I'm scared too, you know." Before Sasuke could ask, he was dragged into a hospital room.

Naruto looked tired, but so handsome. He lay on the bed extremely tired. "Can I get some ramen?" He asked tiredly and the Uchiha thought he was being spoken to until he noticed the nurse in the corner.

"Yeah" she said. "Hold on" Walking right through Sasuke, she was gone. That was when Naruto began twitching and coughing haphazardly.

Sasuke went and sat in the chair next to the blond's bed. He didn't even notice that when he let go of his younger version's hand, the image didn't fade. "Why is he coughing and twitching."

"He had a stroke a few months back. It messed up his body very badly." The boy hugged himself. "We really loved him didn't we? I have to go." The child vanished.

Sasuke didn't want this. If he didn't pull the trigger, then he wanted to go home. Naruto stopped coughing and began to sing.

"Let's dance in style

Let's dance for a while

Heaven can wait

We're only watching the skies

Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst

Are you gonna drop the bomb or not

Let us die young or let us live forever

We don't have the power but we never say ne-"

He cut himself off with a loud cough. Naruto didn't try again; just laid onto his back with a face of sorrow. Sasuke leaned forward and began to sing for him.

"Sitting in a sandpit life is short trip

The music's for the sad man."

Naruto turned his head in the Uchiha's direction. "Sasuke?" For a second, life was infinite. The bond that these two men shared was strong and wouldn't let them go. It shook the earth as it struck.

But, a second wasn't infinite; So when it was over, Sasuke whisked away from the only sense of reality he had in this fucked up nightmare.

 **NSNS**

"Sasuke! Wake up! You're fine, wake up!" His obsidian eyes opened to find Naruto huddled over him. _It was a nightmare!_

Grabbing the blond's shoulders, Sasuke screamed. "I thought I killed myself!" He could still see them behind Naruto. Whispering for him to join them. He didn't want to.

"Sasuke, look at me." Naruto told him.

"No! In my dream, I said….that….I wasn't real. And then my reflection blinked…..so I...I shot….myself in the….head!"

"Sasuke, baby, I'm here. You're here. I can see you, I promise." Naruto was crying; Sasuke was crying; The situation wasn't a nice one to be in; especially for a man who saw dead things and a man who thought it was fine.

"No! No! No!...You were dying in the hospital because I'm not real!" This feeling was killing him. His heart was ripping from his chest, his fingers were clawing into the blond.

"Look at me!" The detective growled and fiercely grabbed Sasuke's chin. "You're here; with me. And I swear to you I would never lie to you."

"I swear that you're with me. I...I uh" The man blushed and Sasuke turned his head a bit, tears still leaking from his eyes. "I love you, okay? There and I don't go around saying I love dead people. You're so real, I swear."

The tears stopped then, but they were still leaking from Naruto's eyes. He leaned down and kissed Sasuke. "You're here." A kiss on the neck followed by a soft gasp.

"Naruto" Sasuke whispered, his body feeling so right in every corner.

"Sh. Let me show you how real you are." Sasuke just nodded and his shirt was lifted slowly.

"I can see you" He stared intensely before kissing the 18 year old's lips.

"Hear you" Sasuke moaned as Naruto bit his neck and healed the wound by licking over it.

"Oh, shit, _fuck,_ Naruto." This was so surreal and he wasn't sure if it were helping his case.

"Smell you; it triggers every happy memory in my being. I want to smell us mingling together." Naruto, only sporting a shirt and boxers, ripped his shirt off and moved back between pale legs.

"Taste you" His nipple nub was licked, pushing him to grab the back of Naruto's head and squeeze his legs around the broad man's waist.

"Touch you" While the blond viciously attacked one of the nubs with his tongue, he squeezed and rubbed over the other with a hand.

Eventually, Naruto sat up between Sasuke, who was breathing heavily. Scowling at the sweatpants that were doing everything in their power to keep them apart. Thus, Naruto pulled both sweatpants and boxers in a careful but swift manner.

Their lips touched as Naruto played with his lover's cock. As the Uchiha squinted his eyes, parted his lips and made unbelievable sounds, Naruto spoke in his ear. "I'm willing to bet my life that you're here and you're breathing."

Pale arms threw themselves around a tan neck. " _Shit,_ Naruto." This felt so good. He couldn't go back now. He was already far in.

"I got you." The blond whispered. He removed his own boxers and his lips trailed down Sasuke's body. Finally, they reached the main thing that demanded attention. Sasuke yelped as Naruto sucked all over him.

" _Aaaahhhh"_

He was going to cum, and the older man knew such, hence why he pulled away from Sasuke. "Fuck, Sasuke." His groan threw Sasuke on edge. Naruto leaned over and grabbed a small bottle from his drawer.

"Wait….Naruto….I'm a virgin." Naruto blushed and mumbled something. "What?"

"I am too." He spoke louder.

"Oh." For Sasuke it was kind of understandable, he was still a teen. Naruto, on the other hand, was 23. "It's okay. I just thought-"

The blond smiled. "I'm a man who waits for love, Sas."

The raven blushed as Naruto kissed him again. Naruto let the lube drip on his fingers, coated his penis first and then asked Sasuke for confirmation.

The Uchiha nodded shyly and a finger was pushed into his entrance. It stung and felt very uncomfortable, but Naruto eased the pain with a kiss.

Two finger hurt a bit more as Naruto began feeling around more. In a flash, the raven jolted and let out a loud moan. "Do that again, please." Again. "Fuck" the blond man continued to violate the entrance until Sasuke yelped, practically ready to cum.

He positioned himself. Lifting a pale slender leg above his shoulder and putting the other around his waist. He pushed in slowly.

"Oww." Sasuke whined.

"Shh. It get's better. Bare with me, love." Naruto comforted Sasuke with a kiss.

At first, it was ideally awkward. Both men couldn't find the right spots that made them go crazy. Though, eventually, it got so good and it felt so great that maybe it wasn't their first time.

Naruto had _a lot_ of stamina. The raven grabbed at his arm and state "Slow down, Naruto, _shit_ , I'm not getting further."

"I know, Sasuke...oh Kami-"

"Shh. Breathe."

" _Fuck"_ Naruto leaned over to his dresser and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter while still thrusting in and out. And had he not been so focused on lighting the cancer stick, he would have noticed how astound Sasuke looked.

The Uchiha never knew someone could multi task like such. Naruto hit his spot again and threw the lighter and packet back on the dresser.

"Aaaaahhhh, Na-narutoooo" He lifted himself and wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck. "I….didn't...know...you….smoked." He panted out with each thrust.

Naruto, before putting the cigarette in his mouth, kissed Sasuke. "It comes...with...love." Sasuke blushed and moaned loudly at once. Naruto took the time to put the stick in his mouth and inhale deeply, still staring at the pale man's sex face.

Sasuke looked back at him and opened his mouth wide. The 23 year old blew smoke in Sasuke's mouth. Before the smoke escaped, Naruto kissed him and sucked it back. It was the hottest thing the Uchiha ever saw. And his lover stared at him the whole time, making it better.

Naruto put the cigarette onto his astray and kissed Sasuke some more. "I am purely interested in, madly infatuated with, and highly intrigued by you, Sasuke. I fucking love you." Naruto slowed his thrusts, but pushed them deeper.

Their rhythm put them together and for a single moment, just one moment, there were no dead people, was no murderer, no haunting past. Just them. Just Uchiha Sasuke who was so in love with Uzumaki Naruto.

It was all they wanted.

It was all they could ever have.

 **Pretty good thanks to all of those who gave great reviews and those of you who were very angry, please don't do that. You're supposed to have trust in your author. Now those of you who want to keep reading, please stay tuned. The murderer is revealed next chap, and the scary things return. :)**


	7. The Prince's Advisor

**The Prince's Advisor**

 **Sorry it's so late guys, something was wrong with my computer. :(**

Sasuke awoke on Naruto's chest. The older man was slightly propped up against the headboard reading a book and Sasuke briefly wondered how he managed to get in that position without waking him.

Naruto was still reading when Sasuke began to rub circles over his tan chest. He looked down and put some fingers between dark locks. "Good morning, love. Did you have a good sleep?"

Sasuke hummed against his chest, remembering the events of the prior night. "Of course" he whispered.

"Good. I made you some breakfast. It should still be hot on the dresser next to you."

The Uchiha looked over to see a tray of food; Iced tea, Koji Salmon, a bowl of baby tomatoes, rice and miso soup. He sat up and kissed Naruto before grabbing the tray. "Thank you, Naruto."

"You're welcome, Sas. I figured you'd be hungry, I mean, I'm sure we lost a lot of pounds last night."

Sasuke laughed and ate a piece of the salmon. Maybe he was extremely hungry because he moaned at the taste. This made the blond look away from his book. "I'm jealous of my own dish, now."

The raven smiled. "This salmon is delicious, but it has nothing on you. I had no idea you could cook so well."

"Yeah, Kakashi and I didn't grow up with a mom, so tou-san just taught us everything we needed to know in order to fend. He kind of played both roles." Sasuke noticed the genuine and 'lost in the days' smile on Naruto's face.

"You and Jiraiya-san have a good relationship?"

Naruto smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I was with him my whole life so it kind of sucks growing up and all that. We have an awesome relationship. And yeah he may be a perve and he may push me past my limit, but he really cares, I promise."

* * *

" _Naruto-bub, what are you doing?" Kakashi Hatake asked his younger brother as he sat on the couch reading. It had been three months since he began living with this new family and the teen could never be happier._

 _Naruto, still three, was by the patio door with only a diaper on. Although the child was potty trained, he was required to wear a diaper around the house for safekeeping. "I'm looking for daddy, aniki."_

" _He's hanging up clothes. Come sit on the couch." Kakashi stated. When Naruto just stared at him, he sighed and put his book down on the couch. "Alright. You're not going to listen to me?"_

 _Naruto just continued to stare. They kept staring at each other. "Come on, bub." The three old still remained, leaning his small hands on the patio door, but staring at his older brother._

" _Fine" Kakashi surrendered as Naruto poked out his bottom lip. "You can stay there, but get your hands off the door. It'll get dirty."_

" _Kay" Naruto called and turned to look outside. The teen didn't pick back up his book, just chose stare at his younger brother. Finally, Jiraiya came by the door with a basket of wet clothing, wearing nothing but knee length sweatpants._

" _Daddy!" Naruto hit the glass and Kakashi, instead of scolding his brother, laughed at the way his old, yet fit, father jumped slightly._

" _Daddy!" Jiraiya looked into the patio window at Kakashi, who laughed and pointed downward. Jiraiya looked down and fake gasped._

 _Naruto laughed. "Come in here, daddy!"_

 _The man shook his head. "No. I have to wash you guys' clothes!"_

" _Come in here!"_

" _Not yet, Naruto"_

 _As a three year old, Naruto only knew few words, and when he got excited he knew even less. Hence why the blond began to speak a bit of gibberish to his father._

" _Big brother wans tou to come in da house and eat."_

 _Jiraiya looked up at his older son. "Is that true, Kakashi?"_

" _No, tou-san." Kakashi smiled, but winced as he moved his foot. "But, I have cramps in my foot. Really bad ones. You should come in."_

 _He was too far, thus Jiraiya asked Naruto what the silver haired teen said. The child smashed his hands against the clear door. "He said he have the crabs. Weely bad ones."_

 _Jiraiya laughed at that. "I'm sure Kakashi doesn't have that." Of course Kakashi didn't have an sexually transmitted disease._

" _I make daddy laugh, so daddy come in now?"_

 _His father hung up Kakashi's jeans on the line. "No, Naru-chan. Daddy has to hang up clothes."_

" _Pwease?" Naruto stomped. "Come in, daddy."_

" _No"_

 _Naruto put his little hands on his hips. "Come in heyu dis instate, young daddy."_

 _Kakashi and his father laughed. Jiraiya crouched down before Naruto. "If you let me hang our clothes up, I promise to come inside and play hide and seek with you."_

" _Kay, daddy."_

 _Jiraiya blew a kiss to his son and hugged himself. "What's this Naruto-kun?"_

" _Dat means hugs and kwisses!"_

" _Good job. Can I have one?" Jiraiya puckered his lips playfully._

 _Naruto leaned forward and his tiny lips touched the glass door. "Naruto loves daddy."_

 _The man put his hand on the window. "And daddy loves Naruto and Kakashi very much."_

* * *

Sasuke drank his water. "Aww. I bet you guys were so cute. I had no idea Jiraiya was such a sweetheart for you guys."

Naruto laughed as Sasuke finished up his breakfast and observed the book in the blond's hand. "What are you reading?"

"The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. Right now I'm reading about how it's not the prince who runs things. It's the one in his ear. The prince's advisor. He's the mastermind. Very interesting philosophy."

The Uchiha froze. "The prince's advisor." He mumbled.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" Naruto put the book down and sat up, but Sasuke was still stuck in his own realization.

* * *

" _So, you're Sasuke, you must be a very good friend of Naruto's." The man smiled at Sasuke very sharply. So sickeningly sweet._

* * *

Sasuke should have known. He smiled too hard at Sasuke; he was too friendly.

Naruto touched his arm. "Sas, baby?"

* * *

 _He smiled at Sasuke. "This case must be helping you a lot."_

* * *

Of course he would say something like that. It was a hint of the night he called and told Sasuke that he wanted to be thanked. His murders were helping Sasuke.

"Kami" Sasuke whispered out.

* * *

" _You too. With Sasuke and all. Keep him safe."_

" _I used to work for him and advise him what to sell and what not to sell. I basically ran the whole thing."_

* * *

Now that he thought about it, they never told him the killer was targeting Sasuke. But he sure as hell knew. He was the boss' advisor. Orochimaru...

" _Shit"_

The bodies in the club and the man was never suspected of a crime.

* * *

 _The younger Sasuke looked up. "But, we knew who it was, right, older me? We knew all along."_

* * *

The man was smart, Sasuke would give him that. Naruto sat Sasuke on his bare lap. "Sasuke? What the hell is going on in that head of yours?"

They should have known. Sasuke had seen plenty of dead people sob and cry, but when the murderer cried over his grandmother, he knew deep down that it was fake. He manipulated them into believing he was a good guy.

He was obsessed with Sasuke, he was obsessed with killing, and he was obsessed with framing others. Kabuto was only smiling because the bar was being closed down; Granny Chiyo must have found out it was him, so he killed her.

"It's Sasori" He mumbled when Naruto kissed his forehead.

"Huh?"

"The murderer of the snake mark case is Sasori."

Naruto thought for a moment and Sasuke sighed, though still surprised. "At first, I didn't believe it either. But, Sasori said the case must be really helping me, and it made me think about how the snake mark killer wanted a thank you.

When he was crying over his grandmother, the sobs, whimpers, whatever, they were fake, Naruto.

Every time we're with him, all he does is smile at me like he's obsessed with my ability or something.

He's had bad blood with Kabuto and he worked for Orochimaru. He was Orochimaru's advisor. Your book….shit. The two bodies at his club, his grandmother dying. He knew we'd go get Kabuto. _He_ put that body behind the dumpster."

Sasuke turned in the man's lap and straddled him. "Naruto" he said in a whisper. "Sasori has been the serial killer this whole time."

Naruto just sat there for a moment. Until finally, "That fucker. He was playing with us the whole time. Come on Sasuke, let's get dressed."

 **NSNS**

Everyone stood in the police headquarters of Konoha. Naruto and Sasuke had just gotten done explaining why Sasori could be and was the murderer.

Now they were watching Naruto stand before a clipboard. "Unfortunately for us, Sasori is nothing short of a genius. Unfortunately for him, we have our own." Naruto smirked in Sasuke's direction.

"Sasori has obviously hid his villain in the most obvious ways. One: he's helped the hero by making us believe that Kabuto, one of the victims, was actually attempting to target him.

Two: He's fucking likeable." Naruto pulled out a cigarette and began smoking it as Kiba laughed and shook his head. Sasuke assumed it was a bestfriend thing, so he shrugged it off. "A lot of us liked Sasori. He was friendly and he owned one of our favorite clubs in this city.

Hell, he even showed some heroic traits by willingly closing his club to stop the bodies from popping up."

Tsunade nodded her head in a face that showed 'good point' and Naruto blushed a little. "Three: He's a charmer. He's managed to charm Sasuke with his personality and his kiddish looks."

He inhaled on the cigarette. "But, that's not all. Sasori lives exactly two hours from every location where a victim was found: Two hours from his former club, two hours south of the third and fourth victim's locations.

Two from Kabuto's home and here, two from his grandmother's house, and two hours away from the inner city of Konoha. Which makes it less susceptible of him being in the midst of his own violence."

Sasuke smiled at how well Naruto was going about all of this. "Today, I need two teams to head out to his home. We'll confirm and suspicions and loose ends we have. Orochimaru's white truck and any sign that Sasori is the killer.

By three weeks ago, Sasori has taken the lives of eight people in this case. Let's hope we don't find more in his house."

Tsunade stood up. "For your first case alone, Gaki, you did exceptionally well."

Kakashi nodded. "You did very well, otouto. Even better than me when I had my first case."

Naruto blushed at the praise from his older brother. "I couldn't have done it without Sasuke. He spoke to the victims and even found out that it was Sasori."

"But, you made it make even more sense." Sasuke mumbled as everyone looked at him.

"You'll be heading out now, brat." Tsunade told Naruto. She called no one else this, but Naruto. "You and Uchiha will be a team and Kakashi will be leading Asuma, Kiba, and Yamato. Everyone else, either guard the perimeters or roam the city. I don't want this guy getting anywhere."

"Hai, Baa-chan. Come on, love." Naruto stated and walked from room. The others stared at the Uchiha, smirking and knowing.

Kakashi smiled. "Hm..something seems different about my little brother. I think he's a man now."

Sasuke bolted from the room behind Naruto.

 **NSNS**

"This house looks like scary movie scene" Naruto forced out with a grimace. Sasori had some sort of farmhouse; white, but dirty and extremely worn. "Shit, I swear it's so dirty, the dust is what's being hiding him."

"Hey? Back at the station, when you started smoking, why did Kiba laugh?"

Naruto laughed. "When we began working for Tsunade, she was so baddass. And when she finished a case, she would explain to us and smoke. It looked so cool. When Kiba and I saw that, we swore we'd do the same thing for our own case. Did I look badass, baby?"

"Very" The Uchiha smirked.

Naruto stopped the car and they got out. Kakashi and the others pulled up behind them.

Naruto pulled out his gun. "Alright guys, I want Sasuke with me at all times, okay?"

Kakashi put a finger up. "And I want you with me at all times, Naruto."

Sasuke giggled behind his hand as Naruto frowned like a child. "Bu-"

"But nothing" the older man interrupted. "I protect you, not the other way around. besides, it'll be best to have at least two experienced people on a team. You, me, and Sasuke and then Kiba, Asuma, and Yamato."

"Yeah, I suppose that is very smart. Asuma, Kiba, and Yamato, you guys go around back. We'll take the front." All men nodded. "Oh my God." Naruto snickered. "What did the police penis say to the condom?"

Yamato facepalmed himself as Kakashi rolled his eye. Asuma shook his head as Sasuke deadpanned at his lover as Kiba snickered. Very obvious best friends as Kiba let out "What?"

"He said 'cover me, I'm going in."

Both animals began laughing haphazardly. Sasuke frowned and smacked he back of Naruto's head. "This is _not_ the time to be joking." And he was right. And Naruto knew that.

"You're right. Okay, you guys go out back and be careful. If you see anything worth mentioning, speak with me through intercom." The second team nodded and went around the side of the large house. Naruto loaded his own gun. "You guys ready?"

"As I'll ever be, kid." Kakashi answered.

"Sasuke?"

The Uchiha stared up at a window of the farm. A woman walked past it, looking straight at him on her way. "Yeah" He whispered.

"Don't worry. We're here with you." Naruto assured as he walked up the steps of the farmhouse. He knocked. For a moment they stood there. He knocked again. Nothing.

Static sounded from his waistband and Naruto picked up his intercom. "Give me what you have."

"Naruto, Confirmed white vehicle is stationary behind the house" Asuma's voice sounded. "Plate number EJ347A. What are the orders, over?"

"Bust the tires so that he has nowhere to go. Proceed within the house. Over and out." Naruto put the intercom on his waistband again and looked to his teammates. "We're breaking in." With that, he kicked down the door.

As Kakashi scanned around the large walkway to the staircase, Naruto spoke with team two again. "Be advised that team one has entered the house. We will all be discreet, so be cautious of who you aim at. That goes for all of us. Friendly fire will not be tolerated."

"Got it."

"Sasori!" Naruto called into the house. "We'd like to speak with you, so if you'd come down and cooperate, it would save us all some time!"

Asuma and the others appeared by them and Naruto nodded. "Sasori!"

 _Crash_

Everyone covered their eyes as a small portion of the ceiling collapsed. A hanging body fell from the hole, though remained above ground. " _Shit"_ Naruto hissed out as the others moved away from the decayed body.

 _Ninth body_

It stunk of stale waste in which death refused to slow down. Sasuke batted some flies away as his partner pulled out the intercom and pressed a different button. "Tsunade-baa-chan, come in."

 _Static. Static._ " _What…" Static. "What do you have brat?"_

"We're going to need backup." And he returned the device to it's place. A loud stomp could be heard from upstairs and all men put their pistols on the spot.

"Team two, search upstairs and touch nothing. We'll search anything down here." And both teams parted ways, moving into the unknown with no real courage for what they'd see.

Naruto moved away from the body and toward the kitchen. "What do you see, Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned toward a small cabinet in a dark corner. "Nothing. No one is in-hold on." He whispered. Something was in there with them. He could feel it. It didn't necessarily smell, so it had to be new.

The raven looked at Naruto and Naruto looked at him. Something dripped onto his face. The Uzumaki turned his head to the side. "You're bleeding." He told him.

Shaking his head ever so slowly, and touching the wet spot on his cheek, all the blood drained from Sasuke. "It's not me" he whispered in a trembling tone.

Kakashi looked up slowly and moved backward. "Move back guys." He ordered. The other men looked up as well.

"Is that…..-"

"Orochimaru" Naruto finished. The older man was nailed to the ceiling by his stomach, hands, head, and shins. Sasuke had been directly under him, making blood from his gray head touch the Uchiha.

 _Tenth body_

"I thought he died three years ago."

"He didn't really have friends." Naruto whispered. "Everyone just assumed that."

Another droplet of blood fell onto Sasuke's lip, making the man move back in a staggering way. This had separated all three of them. Naruto moved back toward the fridge. Kakashi had moved to the old sink.

Sasuke, with his mouth covered in shock, moved back toward the dark cabinet. This was a fucking slaughterhouse for humans. With another step, Sasuke was completely in the corner.

 _Creeeaaaaak_

Everyone looked at one another. Kakashi at Naruto; Kakashi at Sasuke; Sasuke at Naruto. The blond put his hand out. "Come here, Sasu"

The floor beneath the raven had collapsed in and he was taking a long plunge down into darkness. "Aaaaahhhhhhh!"

He heard Naruto call his name and it must have been a long way down because as soon as Sasuke hit a cold wet surface, the ubiquitous blackness completely smothered his consciousness.

 **MINDSCAPE**

 _Sasuke lay in total darkness. This was never how his mind was. It was never this dark. There was always some sort of light._

 _Someone sweetly chuckled. He should have been scared as hell, but the laugh had felt oddly safe. When another person spoke, he froze. It had been so long._

" _Of course it's darker than usual. You fell unconscious when you hit the basement floor." He sat up and stared at the other figure in utter shock. This feeling; his chest was about to burst._

" _Mommy?" He whispered. Uchiha Mikoto, bathed in yellow light, was crouched directly before him._

 _The woman smiled. "I've missed you and Itachi so much, I wish I had more to say."_

" _Me too" Sasuke mumbled, wondering if this were real or not._

" _There's no time to speak, my little Sasuke. You have to wake up. You're still in that house."_

" _Mommy?"_

" _Yes, my little Sasuke."_

 _Sasuke put his head down. "I know what you did. To father, I mean."_

 _Mikoto frowned. "I was so scorned and I've apologized to Kami for my sins. I didn't want you two to ha-"_

" _We don't hate you, kaa-san. In fact, Tachi and I feel for you. We understand you, but most of all we miss you."_

 _Mikoto smiled sadly. "Well you have to let me go, love. I've been stuck here, in this place for a while now. I'm trying to find heaven."_

 _Sasuke closed his eyes. "Mommy, if I wake up, can you wake up too?"_

 _The woman hugged him. "I don't know Sasuke, but I'll try my hardest to open my eyes and see the world again."_

 _Tears pricked at the younger Uchiha's eyes. "Mom, we miss you so much."_

" _I know" She whispered, vanishing into darkness. "But right now, you must wake up."_

 **MINDSCAPE END**

Sasuke groaned and opened his eyes. His face was sore and he was positive the hand that he landed on was broken.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, are you alright?" If he weren't so hurt, he would have rolled his eyes at the volume of Naruto's voice. Sitting up, he looked up to see the faint glow of the kitchen light.

"I'm fine!" He called up.

"Oh, thank Kami. Where did you land and how far are you?! I can't see you!"

The Uchiha looked around. This dark room, lit by a window almost 13 ft above Sasuke, had a washer, furnace, and many pipes and webs.

"I'm in the basement! And don't try to jump down, you'll only hurt yourself!"

"How far is it?! OW!" Naruto screamed and Sasuke assumed Kakashi must have hit him in the back of his head.

"It's far enough for us to yell! And It's far enough that I broke my arm and that the window at ground level is about 13 feet above me! The room is too big, the stairs are nowhere near me! The basement door must be on the other side of the house."

"Okay! We'll be down in a second! Just don't move!" Naruto called. And then nothing.

Sasuke wouldn't move, but he'd definitely have to remove himself from the water on the floor. It seriously smelled like sewage down here.

Finally adjusting to the basement's low lighting, Sasuke could see more clearly. The room was as wide and long as the house. And judging by the various dirt particles on the wet surface, Sasuke assumed Sasori must have dug even further into the ground.

The more he thought about the room, the more he realized where he was. The more susceptible he was to his own wildest nightmares and greatest fears. And once he realized this, someone had finally walked from behind the furnace.

It wasn't living, but it didn't seem human either. It's breathing was heavy and inconsistent gurgles escaped the oval shaped hole on its face.

"What are you?" Sasuke whispered, clutching Naruto's spare pistol.

It didn't speak, didn't move, didn't even acknowledge that the Uchiha was there. Just kept gurgling sounds. "You aren't real, are you?" He asked.

The same reaction. Sasuke moved forward slowly. With each step, he squeezed the pistol tighter...tighter….until his hand went numb.

Closer and in the light, it wasn't human at all. It had human skin stitched onto it, but it was shaped oddly; a work of art fathered by a bad artist.

"A puppet" Sasuke whispered. Sasori had been making puppets using human skin to make them look authentic. _The perfect puppet._

 _Eleventh body_

On an unknown cue, the living puppet fell forward, pushing Sasuke to scream and back away with all his might. He could hear Naruto yell his name from above and the faster shuffling of feet.

"Where the hell is the basement door?" Came a faint yell.

The Uchiha backed away more and more when the puppet fell down completely. He put a pale hand over his mouth in order to calm down; If he didn't, the gun would slip from his sweaty palm.

And Sasuke couldn't have that. Not in this unknown area. Retreating from Sasori's art ceased as his back hit a door. Yelping, he turned with the gun pointed.

"Christ" he hissed out; obviously aware of how paranoid the case made him. The door was made of a tough plastic that almost seemed bouncy.

Peaking inside, the raven could make out that this was the farmhouse's boiler room. Two tables stood off on either side of the small room and directly before him was a path of a whitish gray substance, remarkably resembling soft grain.

It couldn't be snow; not in this time of year, not in the house, not in the boiling room, and not so gray. Obsidian eyes widened.

 _Ashes_

 _Presumably twelfth body_

Behind and above him, Naruto yelled to his older brother. "I got something! The door's under this carpet, but it's locked. We need to break it in!"

Sasuke almost sighed in relief. _Almost._

If Sasori didn't appear from behind a table in the boiling room, Sasuke really would have sighed in relief.

Instantly, he locked the door from the outside, preventing Sasori from getting to him, but ultimately gaining his attention.

They watched each other for a moment before the redhead smiled and began to walk forward. Tauntingly, like he knew he could kill Sasuke.

When Naruto yelled something about a pick axe and the floor began to break in, the snake mark killer walked even closer.

Standing directly before Sasuke, he smirked and pointed down. And the dark eyes did go down for a moment.

Freezing right on the victim's ashes.

Where there were no footprints.

Sasuke looked back up at Sasori.

His reflection.

He tried to turn around, but it had been too late. The man smashed him against the plastic and held the gun to his head.

"I guess" Sasori hissed into his ear. "You're not as smart as you look." He laughed. "That was so dumb of you. How could you possibly think I was in that room?"

Sasuke squirmed, making the red head tighten his grip. "I'll give it to you for talking to my victims and figuring out it was me." The man licked his ear and Sasuke yelled.

"No, no." the man chided and covered his pale lips. "Don't want anyone to know I got you, do you, love?"

The floor opened before them and a latter was pushed down. Naruto had began to come down, unknowing the events occurring.

"Watch this." Sasori stated. He removed the pistol from Sasuke's head to shoot Naruto's leg.

"Aaaah. Shit!" Naruto fell down and onto his back

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled.

Sasori smirked. "Don't come down here! Don't come down here or I swear I'll kill your little brother and his pussy of a girlfriend here!"

Tears began to leak from Sasuke's eyes. Naruto was unconscious and Sasori was probably going to kill him.

"Hey, Sasuke, don't cry. I'll tell you what, you thank me for my murders, which ultimately stopped the people in this town from whispering about you, and I won't kill you."

They were quiet for a moment. "Oh wait, you can't. You can't thank me because your fucking mouth is covered. That's what should have happened all this time. You should have kept your mouth shut and you wouldn't be-"

Sasuke screamed when Sasori slumped forward, a bullet wound directly in his head. Naruto had somehow sat up and shot him down.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" The Uchiha asked and went over, crouching down to hug his lover.

"Yeah" The blond panted. "It's just….a little...shot.."

Kakashi came down the latter. "Don't speak, Naruto. Don't even move."

Naruto laughed and tilted his head in confusion. "Aniki, are you crying?"

The silver haired man sighed and wiped his eyes. "No, gaki. There's just so much heat down here, I can barely see."

The Uzumaki smirked. "Sure- ow, fucking kami!"

Kakashi, in panic mode, held down the blond's leg. "I said don't move." He scolded.

"Sorry"

Sasuke looked around. "There were two bodies down here. One stitched to a puppet and one burned to ashes. That makes twelve."

Static could be heard. " _Naruto...come in brat…..are you fine….we're almost at the house."_

He picked up his intercom. "Yeah...I'm fine….Sasori's down. Team two and Kakashi make it out with no injuries, but Kakashi's heart." His older brother hit him the the head as Sasuke giggled. "Sasuke's arm is broken and his head is wounded a bit. I was shot in the leg."

" _Are you alright, brat?"_

"I'm fine. We all are. It's over. Sasuke and I finished the case. However, we can't let it pass that thirteen people, including the murderer, lost their lives."

" _Got it, hold tight, we're almost there. Over and out."_

Naruto put his intercom away and sighed contently. "I'm happy you're safe, Sasuke."

"Me too" he whispered in return. The blond leaned forward and kissed him, right in front of Kakashi. "Goodness, Naruto. You're so bold."

Kakashi laughed. "Wait, what's that vibrating?"

Sasuke reached into his back pocket for his phone. "It's my brother. Hold on." He answered. "Tachi?"

" _Sasuke? Are you okay? I heard you guys went to get the killer went I went to the station."_

"I'm fine. We took him down."

" _Good. Otouto, you will never believe, what just happened."_

"What?" He whispered. But Sasuke already knew.

" _The hospital called. Kaa-san's awake. I don't know how and when, but she just woke up. She wants to see us and speak to us."_

Sasuke wasn't aware of his tears until Naruto leaned forward and brushed them away. "That's great. I'll be over later, alright?"

"Okay, bye love you."

"Love you too" The phone clicked.

Kakashi and Naruto were looking at him expectantly. "My mom" he stated, brushing his tears. "She's awake."

And Naruto let him cry on his shoulder. It had been so damn long.

"Uh….Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"When this boils over and you've reunited with your mother, can we...you know...can we go out some time?"

 **NSNS**

After explaining the case to the press and making sure Naruto's leg was healed, Sasuke had finally made it to his mother.

He stood outside the door, breathing becoming more heavy. How would she be? Did she change? He didn't want that.

* * *

" _Mommy, will you ever be different when I'm older and away for a long time?" Itachi asked as he prepared to leave for college; at such a young age._

 _Sasuke watched as his mother put down her vase of flowers. "Now why would you think that, Tachi-kun?"_

" _Because, I'll be away for a long time and I won't see you. You might change."_

 _Mikoto laughed. "Yes I will;" She rubbed Sasuke's chin. "We all change. I'll be older, shorter maybe, wiser, and with a head of gray hair, but I will never stop loving you two. Never."_

 _Itachi smiled. "I'll miss you guys. I don't want to cry because dad'll com-"_

 _Mikto cut him off with a hug. "You can, love" And Itachi cried on his mother's shoulders. "I love you guys."_

" _We love you more, kaa-san."_

" _I love you most."_

* * *

"She wouldn't" Sasuke answered for himself. He opened the door. And tears filled his eyes.

Itachi and his mother froze in their game of rock paper scissors. Mikoto smiled sheepishly, the same light in her eyes from five years before.

The young raven shook his head at his silliness. No, she wouldn't change. Never.

 **And that's was chapter seven. Do not leave there is one more chapter. What do you guys think about the murderer of the case being Sasori? Does it all add up? Just know that Naruto's story of the prince triggered Sasuke's realization. Sasori was the advisor of Orochimaru and this made Sasuke think deeper about the read haired man.**

 **Man, It better unless I'll have to make a chapter explaining it. Even I was shocked. Hm...I'm thinking about making a Naruita as one guess said. I've always thought about it.**


	8. Over Again

**Over Again**

 **Well, this is it guys. This is the last chapter of my story. I just want to thank everyone for the reviews and I hope you can all review again, even for this epilogue. :) Right now I am working on my story, but I still owe one to my favorite guess lolgurl and Zerojouno. So I'll be working on lolgurl's story and my Naruita for a while. And to top it off, I still have to write the Camera sequel. :)**

Sasuke had just finished washing his daughter and husband's clothing. The man checked the time and smiled.

Eight, meaning that it was time for Mina to go to bed. Standing, he walked upstairs to the living room.

Naruto had been lying on his bare back while Mina tried so hard to show him her finished puzzle. The detective had just gotten home from work, but his daughter didn't understand that; after all she was only five.

"Daddy, look. I make the twain." Sasuke covered his giggle with a hand.

Naruto with his eyes still closed, smiled. "That's wonderful, sweetie. Very pretty."

Mina, an exact replica of Sasuke, rolled her little eyes. "Oh that's nice, tou-san. How you saw without actually looking."

Naruto opened his eyes. "Geez. I thought your mother was talking to me for a second. You act just like him."

Sasuke made his presence known. "That better be a good thing."

Naruto and Mina looked up as the blond smirked. "It is. What were you just doing now?"

"Nothing"

"My favorite pastime." Naruto stated.

Sasuke giggled. "I was washing clothes."

"I know. Tonight I'll give you a nice massage among other things." He wiggled his eyebrows and Sasuke blushed.

Mina smiled. "What are the other things? Can I help?"

Sasuke sputtered air while Naruto gave their five year old a knowing look. "Mina-kun, I see you got my perv-"

"Time for bed, baby!" Sasuke grabbed the child, gave Naruto a warning look, and walked upstairs.

"Can I have some ramen first?"

"You just ate dinner."

"But, tou-san ate some just now."

Sasuke put the child under the covers. "Your father is an odd human being."

"Our whole family is, kaa-san. Miko-baa-chan, uncle Ita, daddy, you, uncle Kakashi, Pervy grandpa-"

"Who taught you that?"

"Miko-baa-chan and daddy."

Sasuke growled. "Okay, it's time for you to sleep."

"Mommy?"

The older Uchiha smiled. "Hm?"

"Please tell me the story about the mother who loved you and the man who saved you."

Sasuke sat on his child's bed. "Very well. Many years ago, there lived a happy family; a mother, a father, and two sons. They all loved each other very much. It was a very happy family. But, when the father became very sick, he went to find other happiness.

The mother didn't like this, so she left the father. But, she couldn't deal with the heartbreak so she left her sons too. This did not sit well with the youngest son. His mother was his true happiness and when she left so did his happiness.

No one else talked to him. Everyone thought he was very weird because he saw things. He was alone, broken, and sad. Then one day, a man sat next to him and told him all kinds of funny jokes.

The youngest son grew very weary. Having someone talk to him was very new and he had no clue what to do. But then the man said he needed his help. He wanted to save his town. And the youngest son wanted to know why. He told the man that he was broken."

Mina smiled. "And then the man said 'being broken is the only way light gets in.' I like that."

"Uh huh. The man told him he needed help talking to people who had left, like the youngest son's mother. The youngest son was so surprised, but inside he felt happy. This stranger had believed him.

So the two went on to save the town's people. But saving them made bad things happen. The youngest son became frightened for his life. He believed he was a person that left, just like his mother.

But, the man told him that he was real. So real that he loved him. And the youngest son gave his heart to the man. This love had helped them save the people, but ultimately wake his mother."

"I like that story, mommy."

Sasuke smiled and put the covers over his daughter. "I know. But now it's time for bed. Little girls have to get their sleep."

The five year old pointed to the corner behind him. "What about that little girl?"

Even if he did turn around, he wouldn't see anything. Mina had gotten his ability to see things, but unlike him, she saw very good people who died of natural deaths, but chose to remain and bring joy to the lives of others. Sasuke saw victims, which helped Naruto in most of his cases.

He didn't mind. In fact this wasn't the first time Mina had seen a ghost.

* * *

 _Sasuke stood with his hands on his hips, staring at his daughter sitting at the kitchen table. Mikoto sat next to her and Itachi was sitting on the counter._

" _Young lady, eat your porridge." He told her._

 _The three year old pouted. "But, it's nasty."_

" _If you eat it, you'll get strong." Itachi sing songed._

" _No, uncle-" the girl stopped and looked over to her left, almost if someone were standing over her. "Yes? Is it? Okay, just one bite."_

 _The girl took a bite of her breakfast and smiled. She looked up again. "You're right."_

 _Everyone looked at one another. "Who are you speaking to, Mina-chan?" Sasuke questioned._

" _Grandpa."_

 _Mikoto smiled sweetly. "But, Jiraiya isn't here."_

" _I know. It's the other one." And the world froze again. Mikoto had lost color to her pale skin._

" _Baa-chan?"_

" _Hn?"_

" _Grandpa Fugaku says he forgives you. And he's really sorry and he's watching over us all. He says that he hopes to see you one day and that he really misses you."_

 _Mikoto blinked. Blink. Tears leaked from her eyes. But everyone knew they were tears of regret. "I miss him too."_

 _In a second, Naruto walked in and put his hands up. "Woah, look, Mikoto-san, I didn't mean to eat your dango-"_

 _Mikoto laughed and Sasuke shook his head at his husband. "You always ruin the moment."_

" _No." Mikoto called out. "He made it better."_

 _Naruto smiled at Sasuke. "See?"_

* * *

Sasuke smiled. "She likes to stay awake, but you need to sleep, okay?" He kissed her forehead and walked to the door.

"Mommy?"

Sasuke turned. "Yes?"

"Grandpa says good night and he loves you very much."

Tears blurred his eyes, but he didn't let them slip. "I know. I love him too."

Sasuke walked out and jumped. "I'm sorry, love. Did I scare you?"

"No shit, Naruto" he hissed out.

"You alright? I heard what Mina said."

Sasuke rested his head on Naruto's chest. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just miss him a lot too. Good thing Mina has a relationship with him, even though he's dead. You don't think that's weird, do you?"

"I married you, didn't I? Speaking of dead things, have you seen anyone lately?"

"Yes. There's a man standing behind you right now with a large carving knife."

Naruto didn't even jump, just began to sway Sasuke to his own music. "You know I don't scare easily."

"And you know no one is really there."

"Yes, you're just a weirdo. But, you're mine and that's all that matters. I love you."

"Yeah. I love you too." The raven whispered back.

Uchiha Sasuke was, for lack of a better word, odd. He saw things that other people didn't see. Things that were definitely there. He wasn't normal and that much was obvious since he was seven years old.

But, this was fine. He was loved. Because Uzumaki Naruto had always been attracted to, for lack of a better word, odd people.

 **I'm sorry It's so short, guys. Tell me what you think about the story overall. I know it's the last chapter, but it'd be nice to have some motivation for my other stories. Once again, thanks to bubblymoon for his/her awesome comments and making this all possible. It's really been an education.**

 **Guess what keep me writing stories like this? I tear up a bit when I see a review from lolgurl and it says something along the lines of 'All your Narusasu stories are great.' that makes me the happiest woman alive. It keeps me writing. :)**


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